Prevalence rate for hypertensive disorders of pregnancy and correlates for women admitted to the maternity ward of a tertiary hospital in Zambia

Abstract

Background: Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy are one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality amongst pregnant women. The objectives of the study were to determine the prevalence rate and correlates for hypertensive disorders of pregnancy. Method: The study was a cross sectional study done at Ndola Central Hospital in Zambia. The statistical tests used in the analysis of the data were Chi square and Fisher’s exact test. The level of significance was 0.05. Results: Records were extracted for 248 pregnant women with mean (SD) age of 25.6 (6.96) years and BMI of 25.4 (4.09) Kg/m2 . About a third (35.1%) was of gravida 1 and 8.9% had a family history of hypertension. The prevalence rate of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy was 17.7%. For every unit change of BMI, respondents were 1.17 (95% CI [1.08, 1.27]) times more likely to develop hypertensive disorders of pregnancy. Respondents who had negative family history of hypertension were 58% (AOR=0.42(95% CI [0.26, 0.69]) less likely to develop hypertensive disorders compared to respondents who had a positive family history of hypertension. Conclusion: The prevalence rate of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy was high. Regular monitoring of BMI may help to curtail the magnitude of these disorders.