Revista de nefrología y terapéutica

Contribution of the Urine Dipstick in the Diagnosis of Preeclampsia at the Bon Samaritain University Hospital of N′Djamena (Chad)

Abstract

Mahamat Abderraman Guillaume*, Alladoumngar Tangarte, Mahamat Hissein Ali, Djidita Hagre Youssouf, Yusra Aboulbachar and Bruno De Ligny

Introduction: Preeclampsia and its complications are a major public health problem in Africa and worldwide, because they cause very high maternal and fetal morbidity and mortality. Few studies have been conducted in Chad. The main objective of this study was to describe the role of the urine dipstick in the diagnosis of preeclampsia at the Bon Samaritain University Hospital of N'Djamena.

Patients and Method: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study with a 12 months prospective data collection from August 1st, 2017 to July 31st, 2018 conducted at the Bon Samaritain University Hospital in N'Djamena, Chad. All parturient women who developed hypertensive disorders of pregnancy that were hospitalized in the obstetrics and gynecology department were included. A free and verbal consent was obtained from the patients after they were informed about the study. The variables studied were socio-demographic, clinical, paraclinical, therapeutic and evolutionary. The data collected was analyzed by Excel 2016.

Results: Out of a total of 3067 pregnant women, 80 of those were diagnosed with preeclampsia, with a hospital prevalence of 2.6%. The average age was 24.9 years ±6.9 with a range of 15 to 43 years. The pregnant women were primiparous in 65% of the cases. It was noted that 10% of the pregnant women had a premature birth. Patients had presented with pregnancy-induced hypertension in 7.5% and preeclampsia in 6.25% of the cases. In 12.5% of the cases, the presence of chronic hypertension was noted. On admission, a systolic blood pressure of ≥ 160 and/or a diastolic blood pressure of ≥ 110 was noted in 62.5% of the cases. The urine dipstick showed proteinuria with 1 cross (7.5%), 2 crosses (38.8%), 3 crosses (48.7%) and 4 crosses (5%). A clinical evolution was favorable in 53.8% of the cases. Complications were mainly represented by eclampsia (31.2%), retroplacental hematoma (2.5%) and death (2.5%).

Conclusion: Preeclampsia is underdiagnosed in our country. A good follow-up of the pregnancy during antenatal and postnatal periods with the utilization of a urine dipstick test during routine investigations will solve this problem and avoid complications.