Stillbirth

Stillbirth is when pregnancy ends without a live birth due to natural causes, including pregnancy loss, miscarriage, or spontaneous abortion. Some pregnancies do not result in a live birth.

Causes

Stillbirth, or more generically pregnancy loss, may be caused by:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

• genetic defects, such as cardiac malformation or chromosomal abnormalities. Chromosomal abnormalities appear to be particularly common in early pregnancy loss.
• infection
• maternal illness, such as diabetes or measles
• placental dysfunction
• unknown causes

The cause for any specific stillbirth is not always known, but parents should always be offered investigations, such as an autopsy, in order to try and determine a cause, and also plan care in future pregnancies (Wright and Lee 2004).

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~