Prevalence of hypertension during pregnancy in Portugal.
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.


CONCLUSIONS
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.
Póvoa
A M
AM
Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Hospital Sao Joao-EPE, Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade do Porto, Portugal. amargpf@gmail.com
Costa
F
F
Rodrigues
T
T
Patrício
B
B
Cardoso
F
F
D005260:Female; D005313:Fetal Death / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D046110:Hypertension, Pregnancy-Induced / Q000453:epidemiology*; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007236:Infant, Small for Gestational Age; D011174:Portugal / Q000453:epidemiology; D011247:Pregnancy; D047928:Premature Birth / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence