Risk and Protective Factors Associated with Hypertensive Disorders in Ghana: The Case of the Bolgatanga Regional Hospital of the Upper East Region

Aim: The goal of this study was to identify some risk and protective factors associated with hypertensive disorders among pregnant women in the Bolgatanga Regional Hospital of Ghana's Upper East Region.

Study Design: This study is a one case-control study design.

Place of Study: The study was conducted in the Antenatal clinic and Maternity ward of the Upper East Regional hospital in Bolgatanga.

Methodology: The study population consisted of pregnant women who were attending their antenatal care at the Bolgatanga regional hospital whose gestational ages were more than 20 weeks.

Hundred (100) study participants were selected using the purposive sampling technique (a non-probability sampling technique). Data for the study was gathered from the history of the 100 pregnant women who were visiting the Bolgatanga Regional Hospital for antenatal care. The analysis was conducted using the logistic regression model of STATA 14.

Results: The study disclosed that white blood cells (WBC), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL), placenta weight (PW), gestational weight (GW), body mass index (BMI) were statistically significant. BMI was discovered to have a positive association with hypertensive disorders (OR= 2.208, P= .025), whereas PW (OR=0.994, P= .085), GW (OR=0.815, P=.079), WBC (OR=0.719, P=.01), and LDL (OR=0.645, P= .027) were discovered to have negative associations with hypertensive disorders (odds ratios less than one).

Conclusion: The study identified BMI as a risk factor and PW, GW, WBC, and LDL as protective factors. On the basis of the analysis it was recommended that health professionals should raise the awareness of women on the risks of hypertensive disorders even before they become pregnant, especially maintaining healthy weight.