- Pre-eclampsia affects approximately 2-8% of all pregnancies worldwide. In Egypt, the prevalence of pre-eclampsia is 10.7% in a community based study. While, in hospital based studies it ranged from 9.1% to 12.5% of all deliveries. The incidence of pre-eclampsia has risen in the developing countries and even in the developed countries as the USA since the 1990s. Among the hypertensive disorders that complicate pregnancy, pre-eclampsia and eclampsia stand as major causes of maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality worldwide. Nearly one tenth of all maternal deaths in Africa and Asia and one quarter in Latin America are associated with hypertensive diseases in pregnancy, a category that includes pre-eclampsia and the complications that are related to it.