Demographic distribution of eclampsia in women attending the University of Calabar teaching hospital (UCTH), Calabar

Abstract

Eclampsia is a complication of pregnancy characterized by life-threatening acute tonic-clonic seizures. It is the onset of seizures (convulsion) in a woman with pre-eclampsia. It affects 1 in 200 women with pre-eclampsia. The prevalence of eclampsia varies across geographical locations. The incidence of eclampsia lies in the range of 0.3 per 10 deliveries in Calabar (Cross River State). However, there is paucity of information on its prevalence in Calabar; thus this study is aimed at determining the prevalence of eclampsia in University of Calabar Teaching Hospital (UCTH) over a period of five years. Furthermore, data on eclamptic patients from 2015 to 2019 was obtained from Records Department of the hospital. A total of 9,575 deliveries and 153 cases of eclampsia were documented giving an overall prevalence of 1.5%. The prevalence in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 was 1.2%, 1.0%, 1.5%, 3.4%, 1.2% respectively. One hundred and two (102) case notes were available for analysis (66.6%). The mean age of patients was 29.5±5.4 and majority (39.2%) were in the age group 27-32 years. The mean parity was 1.5 and 42 patients (41.1%) were primiparous. Mean blood pressure at presentation was systolic (158±19.5), diastolic (101.7±16.9) and proteinuria (2.4±0.7). 4 (3.9%) had history of eclampsia, 11 (10.7%) had personal history of pre-eclampsia, 12 (11.7%) had family history of hypertension and 7 (6.8%) had personal history of hypertension. The slight increase in prevalence over the years calls for close monitoring