Hypertension and pregnancy in africa south of the sahara: review

Background: Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy are public health problems. Women with Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy are five times more likely to have perinatal death compared with women who have no hypertensive disorders of pregnancy. Objectives: The aim of this review is to determine associated factors and describe maternal and fetal outcomes of hypertension disorders in pregnancy in africa south of the sahara. Methods: We did a comprehensive literature review using the databases Pub Med/Medline, and search engine google scholar. We selected sources of publications and conducted an analysis of articles in order to keep the most relevant ones concerning our problematic. The search consisted of a literature review of databases PubMed/ Medline and search engines Google scholar. Keywords in english were: hypertension, pregnancy, africa south of the sahara. Keywords in french were: hypertension artérielle, grossesse, afrique au sud du sahara. Mesh terms were: hypertension, pregnancy, africa south of the sahara. Results: Fifteen articles were selected. Prevalence of hypertensive disorders in pregnancy ranges from 1.2% to 18.25%. Several factors were associated with hypertension disorders in pregnancy. These factors included, age of women; parity, level of education, residence area, lifestyle. There are many maternal consequences including premature delivery, cesarean delivery, preeclampsia and eclampsia, postpartum hemorrhage, maternal death. Fetal outcomes are also dramatic, including preterm birth, stunting, low birth weight, poor APGAR, respiratory distress or perinatal death. Conclusion: This review shows that hypertensive disorders in pregnancy cause a high burden of morbidity mortality both in mothers as in their offspring.