An epidemiological study of assessment of fetal outcome in hypertensive disorders of pregnancy

Introduction: The maternal health without any nutritional and systemic disorders is essential to provide an optimal in-utero environment for proper growth and development of fetus. Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy(HDP) are one of those conditions which may jeopardize not only the maternal health but also the fetal outcome. Aim of the study: Assessment of fetal outcome in mothers with hypertensive disorders of pregnancy. Results: In the study of 1286 pregnant mothers, 628 mothers having pregnancy induced hypertension (PIH) were taken as cases and 658 mothers without PIH were taken as control group. In the case group, there were 530 live births(LB) (81.9%) out of 647 births, whereas in control group, there were 615 LB (93.2%) out of 660 births. The deadborn(DB) babies in case group were 117(18.1%) whereas in control group, it was only 45 (6.8%). Moreover there were 5 maternal deaths and 3 maternal hysterectomies in case group comparing with no deaths and morbidity in control group. Maximum number of PIH mothers were newly diagnosed 593 (94.4%) and most of the mothers were diagnosed in third trimester only 567(90.3%). PIH was more in primigravida 374(59.6%) when compared to all other gravidas combined. With increasing severity of HDP, DB babies were more in number. Regarding to maturity and gestational age, preterm babies were 171(26.4%) and term small for gestationl age(SGA) were 117(18.1%)- totalling (44.5%) in case group of 647 babies. Conclusion: Both maternal and fetal morbidity and mortality were higher in HDP. Diagnosis of both new and recurrent cases occurred mostly in third trimester. PIH was more common in primigravida. With increasing severity of HDP, DB babies were more in number. Fetal outcome might not be dependent upon mode of treatment and might be due to severity of the disease. Type of delivery did not have much impact on both positive and negative fetal outcome. Preterm babies and term SGA babies were more in case group which will have greater negative impact in future health of the baby. Early diagnosis and treatment of HDP prevents the negative impact of fetal outcome.