Case records and commentaries in obstetrics and gynaecology

Abstract

Background Preeclampsia/eclampsia isa complex hypertensive disorder of pregnancy affecting multiple systems and a cause of significant morbidity and mortality. The duration of exposure to sperm antigens (length of unprotected sexual contact) has been proposed to influence the risk of development of preeclampsia. Objectives The main objective of this study was to determine the effect of duration of exposure to sperm antigens and risk for development of preeclampsia among women admitted in maternity wards at Kenyatta National Hospital. Study design Thiswas a case control study, comparing the duration of sperm exposure among women presenting with preeclampsia a; (d those without. Methodology A sample of 144 patients were recruited using rondorn sampling technique at Kenyatta National Hospital. Data was collected from perinatal and postnatal mothers admitted at Kenyatta National Hospital Maternity Wards between the months of April 2006 and May 2006. Data was analyzed using SPSSversion 10.1,whereby descriptive and inferential statistics was used to draw conclusions from the results. Descriptive statistics for continuous variables was used as measures of central tendency dispersion and proportions for categorical data. Inferential statistics used included logistic regression to determine odds ratio for development of preeclampsia.