October 2018 · Volume 7 · Issue 10 Page 4012 International Journal of Reproduction, Contraception, Obstetrics and Gynecology Gautam S et al. Int J Reprod Contracept Obstet Gynecol. 2018 Oct;7(10):4012-4015 www.ijrcog.org pISSN 2320-1770 | eISSN 2320-1789 Original Research Article Retrospective analysis of stillbirth at a tertiary care hospital Sarika Gautam*, Vandana Rani, Monika Dalal INTRODUCTION Stillbirth is a devastating situation for a mother as well as for the family. It leads to psychological impact on the family specially the couple in terms of future pregnancy outcome and existing pregnancy treatment and management. An obstetrician is also in dilemma to break this bad news and counselling for these woeful couple. The definition recommended for international reference of stillbirth is “a baby born without signs of life at or beyond 28 weeks.” 1 The American College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (ACOG) defines stillbirth as delivery of fetus which shows no signs of life e.g. absence of breathing, heart beats, pulsations in umbilical cord are absent, no voluntary movement of muscle. The suggested requirement is to report fetal deaths at 20 weeks or greater of gestation (if the gestational age is known) or a weight greater than or equal to 350 g if the gestational age is not known. The cut-off of 350 g is the 50th percentile for weight at 20 weeks gestation. 2 The United Kingdom defines stillbirth as fetal death at 24 or more completed weeks of gestation. 3 The incidence of stillbirth also varies from developed countries to developing countries, higher rate seen in developing countries than developed countries simultaneously the causes are also varied from developing to developed countries. The global estimate is 18.4/1000 live birth and it varies from 2/1000 to 40/1000 ABSTRACT Background: Stillbirth is a matter of concern for mother and family as it leads to mental trauma and requires a supportive counselling about the cause of death, management of current pregnancy and future of next pregnancy. Methods: Present retrospective observational study was conducted at a tertiary care hospital over a period of 3 years which include 1765 females who had foetal death. Pregnancy of ≥28 week or fetal weight ≥10 00 gram were taken as inclusion criteria. Results: Total number of births in above said period were 32085 and number of total stillbirth reported were 1765 that is 5.5% of total birth. Maximum cases had their first pregnancy (45.3%) and of were of 20 to 25-year age group (61.02%), and most of them were illiterate (63.96%) and belong to low socioeconomic status (95.8%). The causes for stillbirth were divided into four groups - medical, obstetrical, placental and unexplained causes which were 6.96%, 31.38%, 14.10%, and 47.53% respectively. Management of stillbirth was done as per standard protocol for the department and 90.9% cases had vaginal deliveries, 8.8% cases had caesarean section, and 0.16% had operative vaginal delivery. Conclusions: Stillbirth is a hidden component of new born health status which is often neglected when we talk about perinatal mortality and infant mortality. Majority of case had hypertensive disorders of pregnancy followed by antepartum haemorrhage, infection and congenital malformations. Keywords: Antepartum haemorrhage, Hypertensive disorder of pregnancy, Infection, Stillbirth Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Pt. B D Sharma PGIMS, Rohtak, Haryana, India Received: 16 July 2018 Accepted: 28 August 2018 *Correspondence: Dr. Sarika Gautam, E-mail: sarika.gautam07@gmail.com Copyright: © the author(s), publisher and licensee Medip Academy. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18203/2320-1770.ijrcog20184121