Perhaps this is one of the least pleasant fields in the study of motherhood, and hard for anyone who has gone through a similar experience. But for some time various investigations have been carried out to find the causes of fetal death, precisely to clarify whether there are possible solutions in certain cases. A new study delves into the factors involved in fetal death.
It should be clarified that the investigation was carried out on deaths in childbirth or in the final stretch of pregnancy. In developed countries, where there are statistics, one in 160 babies is born dead or dies in the last trimester of pregnancy, and in developing countries the figure is much higher. According to the World Health Organization, about 2.6 million babies die before they are born every year in the world.
The scientists at the University of Utah point out in a study published in the "Journal of the American Medical Association" (JAMA) that, although the causes may vary from one ethnic and racial group to another, the reasons most common of childbirth have to do with obstetric problems.
Most common causes of fetal death
Dead childbirth may be due to cervical insufficiency (a disorder in which the cervix is unable to remain closed during pregnancy), premature detachment of the placenta, premature delivery or abnormalities of the placenta.
The research, conducted jointly with the Dead Birth Collaborative Research Network (SCRN), recruited a group of women from various ethnic and geographic groups registered in 59 hospitals in the United States, of which 972 had had a dead birth.
The scientists carried out complete autopsies of 512 of the babies, along with the evaluation of the placenta by a perinatal pathologist, chromosome analysis and interviews with the mother. In this way the researchers managed to identify a probable or possible cause of death in 390 (76%) of the dead deliveries.
In addition to the obstetric problems mentioned, they found that other common causes of the disorder were genetic or structural abnormalities of the fetus, umbilical cord abnormalities, infection, blood pressure disorders and other medical problems of the mother.
As the researchers point out, previous studies have shown that black women are twice as likely to have a dead birth as white women. The new investigation, however, did not reveal why this disparity occurs.
What they did find is that fetal death of black mothers is more likely to occur in the early stages of pregnancy or during childbirth and is more common to be caused by obstetric complications or infection.
Another study done by the SCRN also published in JAMA evaluated the possibility of determining the risk factors that lead to the loss of the baby in earlier stages of pregnancy. Among these are maternal age, being first time, diabetes, mother's obesity and marital status.
In short, we hope that studies like these help design strategies to reduce or prevent fetal death, a traumatic experience. And they hope that future studies can establish why there are such wide differences in the risk of suffering the disorder between one race and another.
