Comparison of birth weight patterns of babies born to normotensive and hypertensive pregnant women of the buea regional hospital.

CaHReF 2016, Yaoundé Conges hall, 23 – 26 August 2016 , PL016

Hypertension is the most common medical problem encountered during pregnancy, complicating about 2-3% of pregnancies worldwide. Hypertensive disorders in pregnancy (HDP) especially preeclampsia and eclampsia, remain a major cause of maternal and infant morbidity/mortality worldwide. The burden of HDP remains high in developing countries, Cameroon in particular. To our knowledge there are no studies regarding birth weight of babies born to women with HDP in Cameroon. The aim of this study was to compare the birth weight patterns of babies born to normotensive and hypertensive pregnant women in the Buea Regional Hospital.

This study was a cross-sectional hospital based study carried out at the maternity of the Buea Regional Hospital during the period of November 2015 to February 2016. A total of 2,550 files were retrospectively studied (January 2013- December 2015). These files included information on both normotensive and hypertensive pregnant women. Data was recorded into SPSS Statistics 22 and analyzed using STATA. The Chi squared and Fisher’s exact tests were used to test for statistical significance. Multiple regression analysis was done and Odds ratios and their 95% confidence intervals were generated. Statistical significance was set at p< 0.05.

The prevalence of Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP) was 8.3%. The mean birth weight of babies born to women with HDP compared with normotensive women was 3100(SD 700) g versus 3200(SD 500) g, respectively. Factors associated with HDP were advanced maternal age (≥35 years) (OR 1.7; 95% CI, 1.1-2.7, P=0.007) and preterm deliveries (< 37 weeks) (OR 2.1; 95% CI, 1.4-3.0; P=0.001). Furthermore, factors associated with birth weight of babies included; paturient’s blood pressure (OR 3.4; 95% CI 2.2-5.2; P=0.0000) and gestational age (OR 5.3; 95% CI; P=0.0000). Birth weight patterns of normotensive compared with hypertensive paturients showed a decline in birth weight of babies with type (gestational hypertension or preeclampsia) and severity of hypertension (severe preeclampsia and eclampsia).

The prevalence of HDP in the Buea Regional Hospital was 8.3%. The mean birth weight of babies born to normotensive pregnant women when compared to women with HDP were 3200(SD 500) g versus 3100(SD 700) g respectively.

Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, birth weight, gestational age, preeclampsia/eclampsia, normotensive, preterm delivery.