Risk Factors for Intrauterine Deaths in The Third Trimester of Pregnancy. A holistic approach of case series and literature review

Abstract

Objectives: There is a plethora of references in the international bibliography regarding correlation of various risk factors and intrauterine death in the third trimester, such as gestational diabetes mellitus, preeclampsia, endometrial infections as well as endometrial growth restriction. The purpose of the present study is to analyze demographic and socio-economic factors to draw conclusions on improving health services for pregnant women. Methods: 41 cases of intrauterine deaths, after 28 weeks of pregnancy, were studied retrospectively from the archives of the 1st Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology Alexandra Hospital, during a 3-year period (2015-2018). The risk factors assessed, were the age, the race (White/Caucasian, Ethnic, Asian, and Black), the socio-economic status, smoking, body mass index (BMI), educational level, gestational age, monitoring (or lack) of the pregnancy, and pathology observed during the pregnancy though. Results: The average age of women was 31 years old, the average body mass index (BMI) was 27.4, while most of them were White-Caucasian (75,6 %) The majority of women had a low educational and socio-economic level, 68,3 % (28/41) and 61% (25/41) respectively. On top of that, 14/41 (34.1 %) were smokers, the mean age of gestation was the 32 weeks of pregnancy, and the fetal gender was female (63.41%). The gestational preeclampsia was found to be the most important factor for intrauterine death and most of the women had not monitoring during the pregnancy (61%). Conclusions: Interpretation of the results showed that low educational level and low socio-economic level were independent risk factors for endometrial third trimester deaths. On the contrary preeclampsia was the leading cause of death.