In
Denmark, fewer and fewer women have to experience losing a full-term
foetus before birth. In 2000, Denmark had around 150 stillbirths at full
term, but new figures show that this number has now been halved. Danish
researchers from the Department of Gynaecology and the Department of
Obstetrics at Rigshospitalet have investigated trends in stillbirths
after 37 weeks from 2000 to 2012, and they have analysed the reasons for
the large and very positive reduction in the risk of late foetal
death.
The study involved 832,935 births, of which
3,770 were stillbirths. The study concludes that the drop in the number
of stillbirths is primarily due to an increase in the number of induced
deliveries. However, there has also been a considerable fall in the
number of women who smoke during pregnancy, and this has also had a
positive effect. In the period up to 2012, the number of stillbirths in
Denmark halved. The greatest fall was in the period 2009 to 2012.
This
is evident from a study just published by researchers at Rigshospitalet
in the international journal BMJ Open. Going a long way past the due
date is a well-known risk factor for foetal death. In 2009 Danish
recommendations for when to induce labour were therefore changed, so
that women are now offered induced delivery before they are two weeks
past their term. This change has led to one in four pregnancies now
ending with induction and only very few pregnancies continuing past 42
weeks. At the same time, the number of babies that die before they are
born has dropped considerably.
In the same
period (2000-2012), the number of overweight pregnant women increased
slightly, while the average age of women giving birth went up; both of
which are factors that moderately increase the risk of foetal death. The
Danish study also reveals that the changed practice for inducing labour
has not led to an increase in the number of C-sections, while the risk
of newborns dying within the first week after birth has gone down by
around 50%. So the lower risk of foetal death is not at the cost of
higher infant mortality.In 2011-2012, the risk of full-term stillbirth
(i.e. from 37 weeks and on) was 0.4 per week per 1,000 continued
pregnancies, and 1.4 per 1,000 births. These figures have never been
lower in Denmark, and according to available statistics they are the
lowest in the world.
The study was carried out
by Mette Hedegaard, Medical Student; Professor Øjvind Lidegaard; Morten
Hedegaard, Head of Department; Charlotte W. Skovlund, Data Manager; and
Lina S. Mørch, Epidemiologist; all from the Department of Gynaecology
and the Department of Obstetrics at Rigshospitalet.