Abstract:
Background: Pregnancy-induced hypertension (PIH) is one of the most common causes of both maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality, affecting about 5%–8% of pregnant women worldwide. Hypertensive disorders of the pregnancy were highly associated with perinatal complications like prematurity, stillbirth, low birth weight, birth asphyxia, low Apgar score, intrauterine growth restriction, small for gestational age, and neonatal intensive care unit admission.
Objective: To assess the perinatal outcomes of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy at Abebech Gobena MCH hospital, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 2024.
Method: The study design was an institution-based cross-sectional study design, and data was collected retrospectively by reviewing a medical record from November 25, 2023 - November 25, 2024. 414 mothers who met the criteria for the diagnosis of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy and gave birth at Abebech Gobena MCH hospital were included in the study. Then the data was directly exported to Microsoft Excel from Kobo Toolbox for cleaning before being analyzed in STATA version 14. Both descriptive and analytical statistical procedures were employed.
Results: In this study of all the mothers, 168 (40.58%) of the participants had unfavorable perinatal outcomes. Low birth weight, 33.25%, and preterm deliveries, 26.57%, were among the frequent unfavorable perinatal outcomes. Mothers whose age between 21- 30 years (AOD 2.96, 95% CI 1.025-8.581), other medical related history (AOR 29.071, 95% CI 3.136-269.288) and those who managed with both antihypertensive and anticonvulsant (AOR, 3.243 95%CI 1.816-5.791) were more likely to have unfavorable perinatal outcome. In contrast spontaneous onset of labor (AOR 0.5, 95% CI 0.298-0.84) and primiparous mothers (AOR 0.568, 95% CI 0.33-0.975) were less likely to have unfavorable perinatal outcome.
Conclusion: Spontaneous onset of labor was significantly associated with better outcomes, the need for combined antihypertensive and anticonvulsant therapy, as well as the presence of other medical comorbidities, were strong predictors of unfavorable perinatal outcomes. Conversely, mode of delivery and the specific hypertensive diagnosis did not independently predict outcomes after adjusting for other variables, emphasizing the importance of overall clinical context and management over isolated obstetric factors.
Key words: Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, Perinatal outcome, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia