‘Those We Carried but Never Held’-a Review of Causes of Stillbirth at Tertiary Care Centre.

Abstract

Background: In order to reduce perinatal mortality, better understanding of aetiology of antepartum still births is very essential. Stillbirth rate according to the future years will be decided and UNICEF's goal of 'making every baby count' can be achieved only if; contributing factors of stillbirth are reviewed and assessed Aim:To estimate the incidence, factors related and delays responsible for still birth at tertiary care center. Method: A prospective observational study was conducted in Government medical college and hospital, Aurangabad from 2018 to 2020 after Institution Ethics Committee approval. Data of 1211 still birth cases were analysed and also classied as per CODAC classication system. Results: The incidence of still birth was found to be 3.09 %. As per CODAC classication, Intrapartum factors were observed in 13.21% cases, maternal factors in 40.21%, fetal factors in 26.34% and placental factors in 18.66%, cord related in 4.38% and unexplained factors in 11.72% of cases. Conclusion: In addition to disorders during pregnancy, low socioeconomic condition, poor referral services and suboptimal intrapartum care in referring facilities responsible for majority of still births which could have been prevented. We speculate that upgrading the existing health system performance, particularly high quality intrapartum care by skilled health personnel, will reduce stillbirths substantially.