European Journal of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences

PREVALENCE OF HYPERTENSION IN PREGNANT WOMEN OF CHILD BEARING AGE ATTENDING KHAMIS MUSHAYAT HOSPITAL, KSA.

Dr. Vedavalli Sachithananthan* and Hala Awad

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Hypertension affects 10% of all pregnancies and is accompanied by an increase in fetal and maternal morbidity and mortality. Hypertension in pregnancy includes a wide spectrum of conditions, including pre-eclampsia and eclampsia, pre-eclampsia superimposed on chronic hypertension, and gestational hypertension. Objectives: The objectives of the study were to study the prevalence of hypertension among pregnant women and create awareness about the disease. Methodology: A cross sectional study was conducted on 200 pregnant women attending antenatal clinic of Khamis Mushayat hospital aged 16-45 years. The prevalence of hypertension among pregnant women was studied. Interview questionnaire containing details such as number of pregnancies, age of current pregnancy, BMI, weight of the mother, blood sugar levels, abortions, blood pressure of the mother, diseases if any other than hypertension such as diabetes mellitus, renal diseases, etc. The association between variables was studied on SPSS 22 platform using Chisquare. Also an awareness program was conducted. Results: Current data show that the prevalence of hypertension in the study participants is (18.5%). Again in a majority of the subjects there was a highly significant relationship between age at 1st pregnancy and education of the mother, weight of the mother and previous history of fetal death. There was a highly significant relationship between education of the mother and occupation and income in a majority of the subjects. Also a highly significant relationship existed between income of the family and presence of disease. Also weight of the mother highly significantly related to the BMI and presence of other diseases in the mother. Also a highly significant relationship existed between family history of hypertension and BMI of the mother. BMI significantly related to the weight of the mother, hypertension of previous deliveries and type of disease present. Also a highly significant relationship was observed between blood pressure of the mother and dietary recommendations given and fasting blood sugar levels. Conclusion: Hence it can be concluded that blood pressure of the mother had a significant relationship between pregnancy and hypertension variables. It is the need of the hour to counsel pregnant subjects on the ill effects of gestational hypertension and diabetes mellitus and control the same by addressing body weight, dietary issues and physical exercise.

Keywords: Hypertension affects, accompanied, Chisquare, blood pressure.