Pre-eclampsia in low and middle-income settings: What are the barriers to improving perinatal outcomes and evidence-based recommendations?

Objective: To discuss the points that still challenge low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) and strategies that have been studied to help them overcome these issues.

Methods: Narrative review addressing 20 years of articles concerning pre-eclampsia morbidity and mortality in LMICs. We summarized evidence-based strategies to overcome the challenges in order to reduce the pre-eclampsia impact on perinatal outcomes.

Results: Pre-eclampsia is the first or second leading cause in the ranking of avoidable causes of maternal death, and approximately 16% of all maternal deaths are attributable to eclampsia and pre-eclampsia. Considering the social and economic contexts, it represents a major public health concern, and prevention and early detection of pre-eclampsia seem to be a major challenge. Reducing maternal mortality related to hypertensive disturbances depends on public policies to manage these preventable conditions. Early and continuous recognition of signs of severity related to hypertensive disorders during pregnancy and childbirth, self-monitoring of symptoms and blood pressure, as well as preventive approaches such as aspirin and calcium, and magnesium sulfate, are lifesaving procedures that have not yet reached a universal scale.

Conclusion: This review provides a vision of relevant points to support pregnant women in overcoming the constraints to healthcare access in LMICs, and strategies that can be applied in primary prenatal care units.