Stubborn Stillbirth Rate Confounds Experts
April 26th 2007
Medical advances have failed to reduce the misery of stillbirth undergone by many women, a report revealed yesterday. Experts called for more research into stillbirths to find out what causes them.
About one in 200 pregnancies ends in a stillbirth and the numbers have stayed the same since the early 1990s.
The Confidential Enquiry into Maternal and Child Health reports there were 3,600 stilbirths in 2005 and nearly 1,200 occurred just before women were due to give birth.
Another 2,300 babies died in the first four weeks of life.
The report says that more than half of stillbirths were classified as unexplained.
It reveals that research is being hampered by a big reduction in autopsies.
The report says the stillbirth rate among twins and triples has fallen and that there has been improvement in the survival rates of premature babies. Some 77 per cent of babies born at 25 weeks now live for more than four weeks - compared with fewer than 60 per cent ten years ago.
CEMACH chief executive Richard Congdon said: "The rapid improvement in recent years in the survival prospects of babies who have been born very prematurely is highly welcome, but unfortunately there seem to be deep-seated reasons why we are not seeing the same improvement in the number of stillbirths."
Jim Dornan, vice-president of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, said: "We need to know more about why stillbirths happen. The best way forward is to collate the key data we need to identify the patterns and associations behind stillbirth so that we can discover the most promising areas for further research into its prevention."
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