Prevalence of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy in India: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: Pregnancy-induced hypertension is one of the major health problems leading to maternal mortality. Globally, one woman dies every 7 min due to hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDOP). Pre-eclampsia and eclampsia contribute majority of maternal, perinatal morbidity and mortality. The objective of this meta-analysis was to estimate the pooled prevalence of pregnancy-induced hypertension in India. Methods: A systematic search was done through PubMed, Google Scholar, MEDLINE, EMBASE and Scopus for studies conducted on HDOP. All studies that met inclusion criteria published till January 2020 were included and analysed. The analysis was done using STATA 20.0 software (STATA Version 20.0 is sufficient). The pooled prevalence of hypertension in pregnancy was estimated using both mixed-effects and random-effects models. Results: A total of 18 studies with 92,220 study participants (pregnant women) were included in this review. The estimated overall pooled prevalence of HDOP in India was found to be 11% (95% confidence interval, 5%–17%). Most of the included studies were cross sectional and from the southern zone of India. Conclusions: The overall pooled estimate shows high prevalence, i.e., 1 out of 11 women suffers from pregnancy-induced hypertension. High prevalence of hypertension in the study population demands the attention of policymakers and healthcare professionals. Better implementation of early screening of hypertension during pregnancy should be undertaken.