Prevalence and Outcomes of Gestational Hypotension and Hypertension among Pregnant Women Attending a Tertiary Health Institution in South-West Nigeria
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.71637/tnhj.v25i2.1097Keywords:
antenatal clinics, fetal outcome, maternal outcome, Hypertension, Hypotension, Prevalence, Pregnancy Outcome, Blood Pressure, Pregnant womenAbstract
Background: Gestational hypertension and hypotension are common complications during pregnancy, affecting maternal and foetal health in lower and middle-income countries, including Nigeria. Therefore, assessing the prevalence of gestational hypertension and hypotension and maternal pregnancy outcomes would add to the documentation of evidence-based data that could be used to improve maternal and foetal health in Nigeria. The study investigated the prevalence of gestational hypotension and hypertension and maternal pregnancy outcomes among pregnant women attending Federal Medical Centre, Owo.
Methods: The study employed a retrospective, descriptive, cross-sectional design. Purposive sampling was used to review 207 files of pregnant women who gave birth in FMC Owo from January 2021 to December 2023. The data was analysed with Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 25.0.
Results: The mean age of the mothers was 29.50±6.32 years while majority 189(91.3%) were married. The prevalence of hypotension, normotension, prehypertension, and stage 1 hypertension were 6(2.9%), 52(25.1%), 113(54.6%), and 26(12.6%), respectively. Symptoms presented by the hypertensive, normotensive and hypotensive mothers were severe labour pains 46(30.9%), drainage of liquor 9(17.3%) and prolonged labour 1(16.7%). Few hypertensives 3(8.7%), normotensive 6(11.5%) and hypotensive mothers 1(16.7%) presented with complications during delivery. Only a few of the hypertensive mothers 4(2.7%) had stillbirth while all the hypotensive mothers 6(100%) had live births and 3(5.8%) of the normotensive mothers had preterm birth.
Conclusion: The findings highlighted the relatively low occurrence of serious complications related to blood pressure abnormalities during deliveries, though hypertensive mothers may face a slightly higher risk of adverse outcomes.
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