FREQUENCY OF THROMBOCYTOPENIA IN PREGNANCY RELATED HYPERTENSIVE DISORDERS IN PATIENTS PRESENTING AT TERTIARY CARE HOSPITALS OF PESHAWAR

Objective: To find the frequency of thrombocytopenia in women with pregnancy related hypertensive disorders in patients presenting at tertiary care hospitals of Peshawar.Methodology: This cross sectional study was conducted from January 2009 to January 2010 in the tertiary referral health care facilities of Peshawar. A total of 312 women of gestational age of 20 weeks with pregnancy related hypertensive disorders were investigated. They were subdivided into 102 women with gestational hypertension (Group A), 100 women with pre-eclampsia (Group B), and 110 women with eclampsia (Group C). Ninety healthy pregnant women (group D) were chosen as control. All the subjects were selected from the Gynecology and Obstetrics units of three tertiary health care facilities of Peshawar. Platelet count was measured by using Hematology Analyzer. The data was processed on SPSS version 10.Results: The frequency of thrombocytopenia in all patient groups was 21.8% (n=68/312). Individual groups showed thrombocytopenia in 14.6% (Group A), 15% (group B), 34.6% (group C) and 4.5% in controls (group D). Out of 68 patients with thrombocytopenia, 38(55.9%) were eclamptic. Overall severe thrombocytopenia was recorded in 27(8.7%)patients, of whom 15(55.6%) were eclamptic. These patients were nine times more likely to have eclampsia as compared to those having platelet count 150,000/μL (OR: 9.41; CI: 1.33-188.8; p= 0.008).Conclusion: A high frequency of thrombocytopenia was recorded in the patients with pregnancy related hypertensive disorders in the tertiary care hospitals of Peshawar. The severity of thrombocytopenia is proportional to the severity of pregnancy related hypertensive disorders.