Assessment of Uterine and Umbilical Arteries Doppler Indices in Third Trimester Pregnancy-Induced Hypertension in UBTH, Benin-City

Abstract

Pregnancy induced hypertension (PIH) is a major cause of maternal and perinatal  morbidity and mortality in developing countries including Nigeria. Doppler  velocimetric indices of the uterine and umbilical arteries may predict the impact of PIH on perfusion of the uteroplacental and fetoplacental circulations respectively.
The study is a comparative cross-sectional descriptive type conducted at UBTH. Doppler indices of the uterine and umbilical arteries of 100 pregnancy-induced hypertensive patients between 26 and 40 weeks of gestational age were determined and compared with those of 100 gestational age-matched controls. The data were analysed using the SPSS version 20. The mean RI, PI and S/D of the left uterine artery were significantly higher in PIH (0.58 ± 0.11, 0.96 ± 0.36 and 2.67 ± 0.87) than in 'normal' pregnancy (0.49 ± 0.12, 0.71 ± 0.20 and 2.02 ± 0.39) respectively with P<0.001 each. The right uterine artery mean RI, PI and S/D ratio were (0.53 ± 0.11, 0.84 ± 0.27 and 2.29 ± 0.0.58) and (0.47 ± 0.14, 0.66 ± 0.24 and 1.93 ± 0.40) for the PIH and 'normal' pregnancy groups respectively. In addition, the difference in mean between the two groups was statistically significant. (p=0.001). The mean Umbilical artery RI, PI and S/D ratio were (0.60 ± 0.07, 0.94 ± 0.19 and 2.59 ± 0.44) and (0.56 ± 0.09, 0.81 ± 0.21 and 2.44 ± 0.53) for the PIH and normal pregnancies respectively. P=0.001 for both RI and PI, while p=0.025 for S/D ratio. Doppler indices in the third trimester of both uterine and umbilical arteries were significantly higher in PIH than in normal pregnancy.

Keywords: Doppler ultrasound indices, Pregnancy Induced Hypertension, uterine and umbilical arteries.