The prevalence of stillbirths and the probable causes in low resource settings in south-east Nigeria

Abstract

Background: Stillbirth is a devastating pregnancy outcome, with resultant emotional and psychological trauma to the affected family. Objectives: We investigated the prevalence and probable causes of stillbirths in four tertiary hospitals in south-east Nigeria. Materials and Methods: A 5-year multicenter, retrospective descriptive study of all stillbirths delivered in the hospitals from January 2013 to December 2017 was done. Using an already prepared proforma, the sociodemographic characteristics of the mothers and the probable causes of deaths were retrieved from their case files. Data were entered and analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS), version 20. A P-value less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: There were 23,101 deliveries within the study period and 1,294 stillbirths giving a stillbirth rate (SBR) of 56.1/1,000 deliveries. More than half (58.7%) of them were intrapartum. More than half of the stillbirths were preterm delivery (58.5%). The commonest probable cause of macerated stillbirth was hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (32.4%). Conclusion: The overall SBR was 56.1 per 1000 deliveries. This is higher than 42.9 per 1000 deliveries previously reported in Nigeria. There is an urgent need to improve the quality of antenatal and intrapartum care, if we hope to achieve a significant reduction of the SBR in the region.