Clusters of eclampsia in a Nigerian teaching hospital

Objective : To describe the pattern of eclampsia between 1995 and 2004 at the Usmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital, Sokoto, northwestern Nigeria. Study design : A retrospective cohort of all deliveries and eclamptics seen from 1st January 1995 to 31st December 2004. Clusters of eclampsia were identified using purely temporal scan statistics. Results : Of 15,318 deliveries during the period, 657(4.29%) had eclampsia. The yearly incidence of eclampsia at the beginning of the study period (1995) was 0.39% but this had increased to 7.0% in 2004 at a background exponential rate best described by quadratic curve fitting prediction model and a forecast curve that predicts an incidence of eclampsia of at least 32.4% of total deliveries by 2009. Temporal clusters occurred in 1996, 2001 and 2003–2004. Conclusion : The incidence of eclampsia is unusually high and is increasing. It has shown 3 clusters in the last 10 years.