Abstract / Summary
Preeclampsia is an obstetric emergency that alters the course of pregnancy and predisposes both the mother and the fetus to adverse outcomes. Understanding the demographic, clinical, and nutritional characteristics of affected women is essential for targeted prevention and management strategies. An institution-based matched case-control study was conducted among pregnant women attending the same high-risk clinic at three district hospitals in the Alfred Nzo Region. Epi Info and Stata version 14.2 were used to enter and analyze the data, respectively. The majority of preeclamptic participants were aged 20–34 years (58.5%), with a median maternal age of 28 years (IQR: 22–35). Paternal age was most commonly 20–34 years (51.4%), with a median of 32 years (IQR: 27–41). Clinically, the majority had hemoglobin levels below 11 g/dL (59.2%), with a median of 10.9 g/dL (IQR: 10.0–12.2 g/dL). They experienced anemia during pregnancy (68.3%), were not on aspirin prophylaxis (85.2%), were HIV negative (76.1%), and had been admitted during pregnancy (78.2%). Most reported a family history of hypertension (97.9%), chronic hypertension (98.6%), and diabetes (60.6%). Nutritionally, most were overweight or obese during pregnancy. Regarding gynecological and obstetrical characteristics, most were diagnosed with preeclampsia at or after 20 weeks of gestation (97.2%), with a median diagnosis at 24 weeks (IQR: 22–27). Most were multigravida (73.2%) and multiparous (50.7%), and booked late for antenatal care (ANC) (47.2%), with a median booking gestational age of 20 weeks (IQR: 16–24). The findings present an opportunity to reduce the risk of preeclampsia in pregnant women through nutritional, therapeutic, and public health interventions, including improved access to early antenatal care, treatment of infections, micronutrient supplementation, targeted dietary optimization, and enhanced monitoring of women presenting with similar clinical and reproductive profiles.