Abstract:
Background: Preeclampsia is a pregnancy-specific hypertensive disorder which usually
occurs after 20 weeks of gestation and affects both mother and fetus. In Ethiopia, preeclampsia
is one of the five major obstetric causes of maternal mortality, and the proportion of maternal
mortality from severe preeclampsia or eclampsia shows an increasing trend. As far as my
knowledge there is no study done in the actual study area and there are also limited studies
which done in Tigray, Ethiopia regarding determinants of preeclampsia.
Objective: The aim of this study is to assess determinants of preeclampsia among women
attending delivery services in public hospitals in central zone, Tigray, Northern Ethiopia,
March 01 to 30/2019.
Methods: Hospital based case control study design was employed. Women diagnosed with
preeclampsia were cases and women who had no diagnosed for preeclampsia were controls
admitted to the same hospitals. The case to control ratio was 1:3. Convenient sampling
technique was used to select the study participants for both cases and controls. Interviewer
administered semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect data. The data were entered in
EPI data 3.1 statistical software, and then exported to SPSS Version 22 for cleaning and
analysis. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the data in relation to relevant variables.
Bivariable and multivariable logistic regression model was used for analysis.
Results: Family history of hypertension (AOR: 2.60; 95% CI: 1.15, 5.92), family history of
preeclampsia (AOR: 5.24; 95% CI: 1.85, 14.80), history of diabetes mellitus (AOR: 4.31; 95%
CI: 1.66, 11.21), anemia (AOR: 3.23; 95% CI: 1.18, 8.86), history of preeclampsia on prior
pregnancy (AOR: 5.55; 95% CI: 1.80, 17.10), primigravida (AOR: 5.41; 95% CI: 2.85,
10.29), drinking alcohol during pregnancy (AOR: 4.06; 95% CI: 2.20, 7.52) and vegetable
intake during pregnancy (AOR: 0.39; 95% CI: 0.21, 0.74) were significantly associated with
preeclampsia.
Conclusion: Family history of hypertension, family history of preeclampsia, history of
diabetes mellitus, anemia, history of preeclampsia on prior pregnancy, primigravida, drinking
alcohol during pregnancy were found to be risk factors for preeclampsia. However, vegetable
intake during pregnancy was found to be a protective factor for the development of
preeclampsia
