Prevalence and factors associated with pregnancy-induced hypertension in public general hospitals, central zone, Tigray Region Ethiopia: a cross-sectional study

Introduction: hypertensive disorders represent the most common medical complications in pregnancy and the leading cause of poor prenatal outcomes both in developed and developing countries. Although many studies have been done elsewhere in the globe, there is limited data on pregnancy-induced hypertension disorders and their associated factors in resource-limited Ethiopia, especially in the Tigray Region's central zone. Therefore, this study was designed to assess the prevalence of pregnancy-induced hypertension and its associated factors among pregnant women in General Hospitals, Central Zone, Tigray Region, Ethiopia. Methods: a hospital-based retrospective “cross-sectional” study design was conducted on 769 selected women who delivered at the General Hospitals of central zone from August 8, 2018 to July 7, 2019. A systematic sampling technique was used to select the study participants. The collected data was entered using Epi-Data 3.02; exported to and analyzed by Statistical Package for Social Science version 22. Bivariate and multivariable analysis was employed to assess the relationship between independent and dependent variables. The odds ratio along with 95% CI was estimated to identify factors associated with the outcome variable. The level of significance was declared at P-value ≤ 0.05. Results: seven hundred sixty-nine (100%) documents were included in the study. The prevalence of pregnancy-induced hypertension was found to be 5.1% (95% CI, 3.5%–6.6%). It was more likely to occur in mothers who had previous hypertension [(AOR=7.16, 95% CI: (1.65, 43.97)], substance abuse [(AOR=7.25, 95% CI: (1.43, 36.73)], family history of pregnancy-induced hypertension [(AOR=5.43, 95%: CI: (1.16, 25.45)], and multiple pregnancy [(AOR=37.09, 95% CI: (8.70, 158.06)]. Conclusion: pregnant women who had previous hypertension, substance abuse, family history of pregnancy-induced hypertension, and multiple pregnancies had a significant association with pregnancy-induced hypertension in this study.