Making stillbirths visible: a systematic review of globally reported causes of stillbirth

ConclusionsThere is a paucity of quality information on causes of stillbirth globally. Improving investigation of stillbirths and standardisation of audit and classification is urgently needed and should be achievable in all well‐resourced settings. Implementation of the WHO Perinatal Mortality Audit and Review guide is needed, particularly across high burden settings. FundingHR, SH, SHL, and AW were supported by an NHMRC‐CRE grant (APP1116640). VF was funded by an NHMRC‐CDF (APP1123611). Tweetable abstractUrgent need to improve data on causes of stillbirths across all settings to meet global targets. Plain Language SummaryBackground and methodsNearly three million babies are stillborn every year. These deaths have deep and long‐lasting effects on parents, health care providers, and the society. One of the major challenges to preventing stillbirths is the lack of information about why they happen. In this study, we collected reports on the causes of stillbirth from high‐, middle‐, and low‐income countries to: (1) Understand the causes of stillbirth, and (2) Understand how to improve reporting of stillbirths.FindingsWe found 85 reports from 50 different countries. The information available from the reports was inconsistent and often of poor quality, so it was hard to get a clear picture about what are the causes of stillbirth across the world. Many different definitions of stillbirth were used. There was also wide variation in what investigations of the mother ...
Source: BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology - Category: OBGYN Authors: Tags: Epidemiology & Public health ‐ From data to prevention Source Type: research