Abstract
OBJECTIVES: We sought to estimate the prevalence of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP) in Saudi Arabia as well as the risk factors of HDP, and maternal and fetal outcomes. METHODS: We retrospectively evaluated the medical records of 9493 women who delivered at King Abdulaziz University Hospital, a tertiary care center, between January 2015 and June 2017. All cases of HDP were included. RESULTS: We identified 224 pregnant women with HDP in our patient cohort, giving a prevalence of 2.4%. Their mean age was 31.3±6.7 years, with an average gravidity of 4.0 and average parity of 3.0. The most prevalent subtype of HDP was preeclampsia (54.9%) while 29.5% of the women had gestational hypertension, and 8.0% had eclampsia. The prevalence of subtypes of HDP differed significantly with gravidity, and mean age differed significantly with HDP subtype. Personal and family histories of preeclampsia and the presence of diabetes were more prevalent in women with preeclampsia and gestational hypertension; however, only the difference in diabetes prevalence was significant. The overall prevalence of maternal complications was 9.4% and the prevalence of maternal mortality was 1.3%. Multigravid women and women with chronic hypertension were at increased risk of prematurity compared to other pregnant women, but not significantly. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of HDP was relatively low in our cohort. However, to prevent harmful impacts on both the mother and fetus, screening for this disorder is recommended early in pregnancy.