Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Mar 30;21(1):261.
doi: 10.1186/s12884-021-03712-w.

Gestational hypertension and progression towards preeclampsia in Northern Ethiopia: prospective cohort study

Awol Yemane  1 , Hale Teka  2 , Sumeya Ahmed  3 , Haftom Temesgen  4 , Elizabeth Langen  5
Affiliations

Gestational hypertension and progression towards preeclampsia in Northern Ethiopia: prospective cohort study

Awol Yemane et al. BMC Pregnancy Childbirth. .

Abstract

Background: Preeclampsia (PE) is one of the main causes of medical complication of pregnancy and is the main cause of perinatal mortality and morbidity. It is one of the top causes of maternal mortality in Ethiopia. Also known as transient hypertension, gestational hypertension (GH) is increased blood pressure during pregnancy without proteinuria, which is expected to return to normal by the 12th-week postpartum visit. PE is GH with proteinuria and /or other systemic manifestations. Evidence from high income countries show that GH significantly progresses towards PE. To our knowledge, this is the first study on the progression of GH towards PE in an African setting. The objective of this study is, therefore, to assess the incidence of GH, progression towards PE and factors associated with progression in Ethiopia.

Methods: This is a prospective cohort study conducted at Ayder Comprehensive Specialized Hospital (ACSH) and Mekelle General Hospital (MGH), the largest referral centers in Northern Ethiopia. Two hundred and forty women with GH were enrolled and followed up until delivery. Clinical and laboratory data at initial presentation and at follow-up were compared among women who progressed towards PE and who remained with the diagnosis of GH. Logistic regression analysis was employed to model the combined effects of the clinical and laboratory data as significant predictors of progression from GH to PE.

Result: The incidence of GH in this study was 6 % (4.9-8.5). The rate of progression was 17.1 % (13.4-23.8). Previous history of GH, anemia during pregnancy, previous second-trimester spontaneous abortion were significant predictors of progression.

Conclusions: There is a high rate of progression of GH towards PE. In a resource-limited setting where predictive and diagnostic tools are scarce, clinical profile of women should be taken into consideration for prediction and diagnosis of PE.

Keywords: Ethiopia; Gestational hypertension; Low‐resource setting; Preeclampsia; Progression.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

References

    1. Report of the National High Blood Pressure Education Program Working Group on High Blood Pressure in Pregnancy. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2000;183(1). Available from: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10920346/. - PubMed
    1. Berhe A, Kassa G, Fekadu G, Muche A. Prevalence of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy in Ethiopia: a systemic review and meta-analysis. BMC Pregnancy Childbirth. 2018;18(1). Available from: https://bmcpregnancychildbirth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12884.... - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Dolea C, Abouzahr C. Global burden of environmental disease. Epidemiology. 2000;11(4):S159. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/265222498.
    1. Saudan P, Brown M, Buddle M, Jones M. Does Gestational Hypertension Become Pre-Eclampsia?. Obstetrical & Gynecological Survey [Internet]. 1999;54(5):287–288. Available from: https://obgyn.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1471-0528.1998..... - DOI
    1. Walker R, Hemmelgarn B, Quan H. Incidence of gestational hypertension in the Calgary Health Region from 1995 to 2004. Canad JCardiol. 2009;25(8):e284-e287. Available from: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19668790/. - PMC - PubMed