Lao T T, Chin R K, Leung B F
Obstetrics and Gynaecology Unit, Princess Margaret Hospital, Kowloon, Hong Kong.
Eur J Obstet Gynecol Reprod Biol. 1987 Oct;26(2):97-104. doi: 10.1016/0028-2243(87)90043-8.
Twenty-four cases of eclampsia managed in a hospital in Hong Kong over a five-year period were reviewed. Four patients had antepartum eclampsia and one had postpartum eclampsia following elective caesarean section. Four of these five patients had severe pregnancy-induced hypertension (PIH) (greater than 160/100 mmHg). The other 19 patients had eclampsia occurring during labour or within six hours of delivery. This group included 10 patients with labour-onset PIH, none of whom developed severe hypertension before their convulsions. In the remaining nine patients, only five had severe hypertension before convulsion. The results suggest that labour-related eclampsia has become more common than antepartum eclampsia, and severe hypertension before convulsion is an infrequent finding and therefore an unreliable sign in these patients.
