A Cross-sectional Study on the Prevalence and Clinico-social Profile of High Risk Pregnancies in Rural Tamil Nadu, India

Introduction: Around 10-30% of mother during their antenatal period can be classified as high risk and out of these 70-80% accounts to perinatal morbidity or mortality. Special care must be given to women with high risk pregnancies to make sure the best possible outcomes. Early identification and regular follow-up of high risk pregnancies will reduce the loss of mother as well as newborn.

Aim: To identify the prevalence of high risk pregnancies and factors associated with it in rural Tamil Nadu, India.

Materials and Methods: The present community-based cross-sectional study was conducted in rural field practice area in the Department of Community Medicine, Annapoorna Medical College, Salem, Tamil Nadu, India. High risk pregnancies were identified using a pretested semi-structured questionnaire and a scoring system developed by Dutta and Das (1990) on 235 women of more than 20 weeks of pregnancy. The association between high risk pregnancies and socio-demographic variables were analysed. The frequency, percentage and analytical statistics was done using Pearson’s Chi-square test.

Results: The prevalence of high risk pregnancy among total of 235 pregnant mothers who were interviewed was found to be 15.32%, Moderate and high risk pregnancies combined were 42.13%, whereas 57.87% were of low risk pregnancy with no known risk factors. Major risk factors identified were anaemia (33.19%), undernutrition (31.06%), previous Lower Segment Caesarean Section (LSCS) (13.62%), abortion (8.51%). Early and late age at pregnancy was not associated with moderate to high risk pregnancy. Parity and high socio-economic condition were significantly associated with high risk pregnancy.

Conclusion: The present study found that 42.13% pregnancies were moderate to high risk pregnancies. Early detection of these high risk pregnancies must be done at primary healthcare level using a uniform scoring system by a trained health workers, which may reduce the adverse events.