Abstract:

Background: Preeclampsia is one of pregnancy induced hypertensive diseases which may result into significant morbidity and mortality to both mother and her fetus. Therefore this study is conducted to determine the prevalence of preeclampsia among pregnancy women attending maternity ward at Kahama district hospital.

Methods: Between January to August 2013 a retrospective cross-sectional study was done at Kahama maternity ward involving 195 pregnant women. Data were entered and analyzed using EPIDATA and SPSS 17.1.

Results: A total of 195 pregnant mothers at Kahama maternity ward were involved in the study. In this study 31% (61/195) were aged between 15-20 years the rest 69% (134) were at ages above 20 years. Primigravidae were 40.5% (79/195) and 59.5% (116/195) were multigravida. Still births were 18.5% and the rest were alive, and most of these women delivered through spontaneous vaginal delivery. Most of women attending Kahama maternity came from Nyahanga 7.7% (15/195) followed by Malunga 7.1% (14/195) and the rest were from other places around Kahama district. From the study 37.4% (73/195) were found to have preeclampsia. Majority of women diagnosed to have preeclampsia were (32/73) aged between 15-20 years. Also Primigravidae were most affected 52.1% with the rest being multigravida, a large proportion of preeclamptic mothers delivered by caesarian section 42/73. The prevalence of still birth was (22/73), and maternal mortality was found to be 19.2%.

Conclusion: Prevalence of preeclampsia is high among pregnant women attending Kahama district hospital with a significant proportion of maternal and child mortality. Much of knowledge should be impacted on women of reproductive age on the importance of attending health facilities as early as they notice danger signs of preeclampsia so as to minimize the burden of the disease.