Table 3.
Probable and Possible Causes of Death by Timing of Stillbirth in Relation to Labor and Gestational Agea
| No. (%) |
|||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Timing of Stillbirthc |
Gestational Age, wkb |
||||||||
| Cause of Death | Total | Antepartum | Intrapartum | 18–19 | 20–23 | 24–27 | 28–31 | 32–36 | ≥37 |
| Obstetric complications | 150 (29.3) | 63 (14.8) | 87 (100.0) | 7 (70.0) | 82 (51.3) | 17 (19.1) | 15 (20.8) | 17 (17.5) | 12 (14.3) |
| Placental disease | 121 (23.6) | 111 (26.1) | 10 (11.5) | 4 (40.0) | 20 (12.5) | 32 (36.0) | 18 (25.0) | 26 (26.8) | 21 (25.0) |
| Fetal genetic/structural | 70 (13.7) | 66 (15.5) | 4 (4.6) | 0 | 22 (13.8) | 10 (11.2) | 10 (13.9) | 17 (17.5) | 11 (13.1) |
| Infection | 66 (12.9) | 43 (10.1) | 23 (26.4) | 2 (20.0) | 35 (21.9) | 7 (7.9) | 4 (5.6) | 8 (8.2) | 10 (11.9) |
| Umbilical cord abnormalities | 53 (10.4) | 46 (10.8) | 7 (8.0) | 1 (10.0) | 13 (8.1) | 10 (11.2) | 4 (5.6) | 13 (13.4) | 12 (14.3) |
| Hypertensive disorders | 47 (9.2) | 40 (9.4) | 7 (8.0) | 1 (10.0) | 6 (3.8) | 14 (15.7) | 12 (16.7) | 10 (10.3) | 4 (4.8) |
| Maternal medical complications | 40 (7.8) | 37 (8.7) | 3 (3.4) | 0 | 11 (6.9) | 9 (10.1) | 3 (4.2) | 8 (8.2) | 9 (10.7) |
| Other | 16 (3.1) | 16 (3.8) | 0 | 0 | 4 (2.5) | 3 (3.4) | 4 (5.6) | 3 (3.1) | 2 (2.4) |
| Any cause | 390 (76.2) | 303 (71.3) | 87 (100.0) | 9 (90) | 136 (85.0) | 62 (69.7) | 52 (72.2) | 71 (73.2) | 60 (71.4) |
| Total No. | 512 | 425 | 87 | 10 | 160 | 89 | 72 | 97 | 84 |
a
Some stillbirths had more than 1 probable or possible cause.
b
Different proportions by gestational age are noted for placental disease (nominal P=.001), infection (nominal P=.002), hypertensive disorder (nominal P=.004), and obstetric complications (nominal P<.001).
c
A higher proportion of causes of antepartum stillbirths were placental disease (nominal P=.003) and fetal abnormalities (nominal P=.007) and a lower proportion were infection (nominal P<.001) and obstetric complications (nominal P<.001) compared with intrapartum stillbirths.