Clinical and Epidemiological Profile of Patients with Hypertensive Disorder Associated With Pregnancy in Medellín, Colombia

Abstract

Introduction: Hypertension is the most frequent complication in pregnancy, in Colombia. It is estimated to be responsible for 35% of all maternal deaths. Due to the high frequency and high mortality rates of this condition, it is vital to know the epidemiological behavior in our environment.
Objective: To describe the clinical and sociodemographic variables of women with hypertensive disorder associated with pregnancy.
Method: A cross-sectional study was carried out in 50 patients diagnosed with hypertension during pregnancy from a health institution in Medellin, during 2015. We used SPSS vr 20 program for the statistical analysis. Average, standard deviation and minimum and maximum values were calculated for quantitative variables. Proportions were estimated for qualitative variables.
Results: The average age was 26.8 ± 5.9 years. Mestizo race (46%), student occupation (55%) and level of schooling - secondary (38%) predominated. Regarding the clinical variables, 72% corresponded to non-severe forms and 22% for severe. Most frequent clinical manifestations were edema (46%), headache (62%) and proteinuria (55%). The highest proportion of personal history were kidney disease (14%) and arterial hypertension (6%). Regarding the gynecological-obstetric history, 8% of the women presented a previous episode of hypertension during pregnancy and 60% of the patients were primigravient.
Conclusions: Most of our population were young, primitive women, and of low socioeconomic status, which is compatible with the results reported in the literature.