Figures in brackets denote percentages. Discussion Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy have been identified as a major world wide health problem, associated with increased perinatal morbidity and mortality. Essential hypertension cases were less in this study, probably because majority of the mothers did not receive antenatal care and were admitted as emergency cases, hence no blood pressure record during the antenatal period was available. The perinatal mortality was also higher in them as compared to the booked cases. This study is in conformity with the view that hypertensive disorders of pregnancy is essentially a disease of primigravidae.
Age has an important influence on the incidence of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy.
But in this study majority of the hypertensive mothers were between the ages of 20 to 25 years. This could be because the majority of conceptions take place in this age group in our country. A high perinatal mortality rate in pregnancy associated hypertension is in conformity with earlier literature. In conclusion, the frequency of hyper tensive disorders of pregnancy continues to remain high and majority are due to toxemia of pregnancy. Perinatal mortality is signifi-cantly high in mothers with hypertensive disorders.