European Journal of Cardiovascular Medicine

Introduction: Eclampsia has been recognized as a clinical entity since the time of Hippocrates; and has been a nightmare to healthcare providers ever since. It is defined as the occurrence of generalised convulsions associated with preeclampsia during pregnancy, labour or within 7 days of delivery and not caused by epilepsy or other convulsive disorders. The incidence of eclampsia has often been viewed as an index of civilization in a country. There is low utilization of both antenatal and intrapartum care services and the patients may present to the hospital only as a last resort. Materials And Methods: This is a Prospective Study was carried out at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Tertiary Care Teaching Hospital over a period 2 years. All patients presenting with eclampsia during the said period were recruited into the study. All patients presenting with eclampsia during the said period were recruited into the study. Eclamptics are usually admitted directly into the labour ward. Patients who were diagnosed with other causes of convulsions in pregnancy like cerebral malaria and epilepsy were excluded from the study. A total of 821 pregnant mothers with eclampsia admitted in the inpatient department of the tertiary care teaching hospital were recruited for the study, irrespective of their previous antenatal check up history. Results: Majority (66%) of the patients had between 2 to 5 episodes of convulsion. The MINIMUM number was 1 episode of convulsion , seen in 13 % of the patients. The MAXIMUM number of convulsions was 40. Of the 66 patients who had had more than 10 no. of convulsions , 30 had not received any treatment prior to referral, while there were no patients who had had more than 10 no. of convulsions after receiving the Loading Dose of MgSO4. For patients having less than 5 no. of convulsions , the number of patients having received only the IM Dose of MgSO4 was 1.5 times those having received the Loading Dose.(228/154 =1.48) In 29% of the patients, Hypertension was controlled by delivery alone. Those who failed to achieve a control of BP by Delivery alone were administered Calcigard (Nifedipine). Conclusion: Eclampsia was noted to be commoner among the young primigravida patients. The importance of this finding is that this group of patients deserve extra surveillance during antenatal care in terms of monitoring their blood pressure and screening their urine for proteinuria to detect pre-eclampsia. It is hoped that such interventions will have positive impact on maternal and child care. However, all this will go in vain unless health care providers at the grassroot levels are sensitised regarding the early diagnosis of Pre eclampsia and prompt and appropriate initiation of treatment