TITLE:
Characteristics of symptoms of imminent eclampsia: A case referent study from a tertiary hospital in Tanzania
AUTHORS:
John France, Projestine S. Muganyizi
KEYWORDS:
Eclampsia; Symptoms; Headache; Blurring of Vision; Abdominal Pain; Tanzania
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology,
Vol.2 No.3,
September
7,
2012
ABSTRACT: Background: Maternal mortality in developing countries is unacceptably high with eclampsia being consistently among the top causes. As yet, primary prevention of this complication is not possible since causes of preeclampsia are largely unknown and bio-chemical, hematological and radiological markers have proved unsuitable for routine prediction of eclamptic fits. Although headache, visual disturbance, abdominal pain, nausea, and vomiting are routinely elicited when managing pre-eclampsia and have been reported to predict eclamptic fits, the literature attempting to characterize them is scanty. We sought to establish characteristics of the prodromal symptoms of eclampsia and compare them with similar symptoms as experienced by normotensive pregnant women at Muhimbili National Hospital (MNH) in Tanzania. Methods: This study was conducted at MNH in 2010 by enrolling 123 eclamptic and 123 normotensive women. Women in the two groups were interviewed about their experiences and characteristics of headache, visual disturbances, abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting using a semi structured questionnaire. The severity, nature and other characteristics of the symptoms were assessed using standard scale/methods and data compared among the two groups. Results: Prodromal symptoms of eclampsia were present in 90% of eclamptic women. Headache was more frequent among eclamptic women (88%) than the normotensive (43%), p