Epidemiology of preeclampsia in Mauritius island

In Mauritius, the maternal mortality rate (MMR) was 21 per 100000 live births for the year 2001 and this is comparable with figures from developed countries. There has been poor documentation in the area of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy until recently in the island. Consequently, we analysed data from the Ministry of Health. Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy occurred in 6.7% gravidas in 2001. Out of four maternal deaths recorded in 2001, two occurred due to severe eclampsia. In the second part of our study, we scrutinised also the obstetric notes and interviewed 862 hospitalised women from four main hospitals of the island between 1995 and 1997. The majority of women were affected by non-proteinuric hypertension (70%), followed by preeclampsia (24%) and chronic hypertension (6%). Preeclamptic primi and multigravidas developed the condition earlier and also gave birth to growth-retarded babies. Highly significant results supported the relationship between growth retardation and preeclampsia in different parities, irrespective of the length of exposure of the baby in utero. Preeclampsia affects both Indo-Mauritians and Creoles to the same extent, but the latter are much more prone to gestational hypertension. In addition, hypertensive disorders of pregnancy are more a problem of multigravid women in Creoles while they are more classically a condition of primigravidae in Indians.