Effect of pregnancy induced hypertension on adverse perinatal outcomes in Tigray Regional State, Ethiopia: a prospective cohort study

Background: Pregnancy induced hypertension is the development of new hypertension with or without proteinuria after 20 weeks of pregnancy. The prevalence of pregnancy induced hypertension in Ethiopia ranges from 2.2 to 18.3%. However, little is known about the adverse perinatal outcomes of pregnancy induced hypertension in Tigray Regional State, Ethiopia.Therefore the objective of this study was to assess effect of pregnancy induced hypertension on adverse perinatal outcomes in Tigray Regional State, Ethiopia. Methods: a prospective cohort study was conducted on a total sample of 782 pregnant women attending antenatal care in hospitals of Tigray regional state, Ethiopia. Data were collected using interviewer-administered questionnaire and review of their medical records from February 1, 2018, to February 30, 2019. Data analysis was performed using Stata version 14.0. Relative risk with 95% CI for the association between pregnancy induced hypertension and perinatal outcomes were assessed using Poisson regression analysis. Results: In this study the overall incidence of adverse perinatal outcome was higher among women with pregnancy induced hypertension than normotensive women ( 66.4% vs 22.2%). After adjusted for confounders women with pregnancy induced hypertension were born babies with a higher risk of low birth weight (adjusted RR(95%CI)= 5.1(3.4,7.8)), birth asphyxia (aRR=2.6(1.9,3.8)), small for gestational age (aRR=3.3(2.3,4.6)), preterm delivery (aRR=5.2(3.4,7.9)), admission to neonatal intensive care unit (aRR=5.1(3.1,8.4)) and with a higher risk of perinatal death (aRR=3.6(1.8,7.4)) compared to normotensive pregnant women Conclusions: Higher incidences of adverse perinatal outcomes were occurred among women pregnancy induced hypertension in Tigray regional state, Ethiopia. Hence health care providers should strengthen prevention, early diagnosis and prompt management of pregnancy induced hypertension to reduce adverse perinatal outcomes of pregnancy induced hypertension. Keywords : Adverse perinatal outcomes, pregnancy induced hypertension, Tigray, Ethiopia