[Pre-eclampsia and eclampsia. Experience at the Centro Médico Nacional de Torreón]

To assess the epidemiological aspects of the patient with preeclampsia assisted in the Centro Medico Nacional Torreón, of the IMSS.

We carried out a retrospective and descriptive survey of 138 consecutive admissions to the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, between January first to December 31, 1997 with diagnosis of preeclampsia according to the criteria of the ACOG. Maternal and perinatal secondary complications of this pathology were determined. Mortality and lethality rates were also estimated. Descriptive statistics were used for the analysis.

The prevalence rate of preeclampsia was 2.1%. The age of the patients was 23.2 years (SD 3.05) and the gestational age at the moment of the diagnosis of preeclampsia of 36.4 weeks (SD 3.2). Only 41.3% of the patients received regular prenatal control. The prevalence rate of maternal complications was 29.0%. Mortality rate was 0.15 x 1,000, lethality rate was 0.72%. The weight average of the new born were 2.011 kg (SD 0.429), the Apgar to the first minute 7.72 (SD 0.98) and 8.66 (SD 1.10) to the fifth minute. The prevalence rate of perinatal complications was 35.5%. There were 15 neonatal deaths (10.9%) and one fetal lost.

The preeclampsia-eclampsia is still a disorder with a great influence in the maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality rates. It is necessary to continue working for find out the way of preventing their appearance or modifying their evolution avoiding the eclampsia or other serious forms of this illness.