The above article focused on the prevalence of factors associated with increased risk of pregnancy hypertension and pre-eclampsia period: an international comparative study. The countries involved were Australia, Canada, Denmark, Norway, Scotland, Sweden and USA.
The key message from this study is that pregnancy hypertension and pre-eclampsia remain global health concerns in both developed and developing countries. This type of study is important because it informs policy makers that there are unique and complex factors that may reduce the rates of pregnancy hypertension and pre-eclampsia. The knowledge learned from the study on these factors (risk of pregnancy hypertension and progression of pre-eclampsia) will assist policy makers to use interventions such as different International Classification of Diseases coding versions to identify and describe such factors. As a South African Primary health care nurse I am concerned about the translation of the study into community/primary health care practice. In the remote areas where the majority of Primary health care services are provided, nurses may not be familiar with the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) coding version, and may not even have access to ICD. I really like this study and it makes me to think on how primary health care nurses in South Africa practice without knowledge of the ICD version on the interpretation of the prevalence of pregnancy hypertension and pre-eclampsia. I therefore recommend that policy makers in South Africa should train their primary health care nurses on the use of ICD and should make sure that accessibility of such intervention is ensured.
Conflict of Interest:
None declared