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Prevalence of hypertension during pregnancy in Portugal
A M Póvoa1, F Costa, T Rodrigues
1Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Hospital Sao Joao-EPE, Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade do Porto, Portugal. amargpf@gmail.com
Objective:
To estimate the prevalence of maternal hypertensive disorders in Portugal and to assess their impact on obstetric outcomes.
Methods:
A national survey on hypertension in pregnancy was conducted in Portuguese public maternity wards and included 6726 pregnancies.
Results:
Six percent of women presented with a hypertensive disorder during pregnancy or puerperium: 1.5% with chronic hypertension, 2.5% with gestational hypertension, 1.4% with preeclampsia, 0.2% with superimposed preeclampsia, 0.1% with eclampsia, and 0.1% with HELLP syndrome. Preterm birth, small-for-gestational-age infants and fetal death were significantly more frequent among women with preeclampsia/eclampsia and HELLP syndrome.
Conclusion:
In Portugal, the prevalence of hypertensive disorders diagnosed during pregnancy seems to be lower than that reported in most countries, but these disorders have a significant effect on pregnancy outcomes.
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