Background: Antiphospholipid antibodies are recognized to be associated to thrombosis and obstetric complications. Preeclampsia is a frequent pregnancy complication in our context. The objective of our study was to determine the prevalence of lupus anticoagulant (LA) and its association with severe pre-eclampsia and eclampsia in Burkina Faso. Methods: We carried out a hospital-based unmatched case-control study including 86 women with severe preeclampsia or eclampsia and 87 controls. LA were diagnosed using Diluted Russel's Viper Venom time screening and confirmation tests. Positive lupus anticoagulant was defined if the screen to confirmation ratio was over 1.2. Results: The prevalence of LA was 22.1% in women with preeclampsia or eclampsia and 3.4% in control (OR = 6.12; 1.45 – 25.84; p = 0.014). The primigravida accounted for68.2% of positive LA and had 2.69 odds of being positive to lupus anticoagulant compared to multigravida (OR = 2.69; [1.04 – 6.97]; p = 0.042). The LA could be suspected to be a part of the aetiologies of obstetrical complications (cases of obstetric antiphospholipid syndrome) in four cases (4.6%) of study-group.
Conclusion: We certainly failed to diagnosis all cases of obstetric antiphospholipid syndrome in our study population, since we screened only LA. It is necessary to implement complementary assays for antiphospholipid antibodies detection in order to improve the exploration of pregnancy complications and thrombotic diseases.

Lupus anticoagulant – Preeclampsia – Antiphospholipid antibody -Diluted Russel's Viper Venom Time