An incident case-referent study of stillbirths at Harare Maternity Hospital: socio-economic and obstetric risk factors.
This incident case-referent study was conducted at Harare Maternity Hospital in 1989-1990 on 104 consecutive cases of stillbirth with unknown aetiology and 96 age- and parity-matched referents. Information was collected by interviewing the women following a standardized form and by review of antenatal cards. None of the women refused to participate. The most significant obstetric risk factors were prevalence of earlier stillbirths (odds ratio, OR = 6.1) and miscarriages (OR = 4.8). Low height and body mass index also increased the risk of having a stillborn baby significantly as well as a history of flue-like illness during pregnancy (OR = 4.6). The latter may have stimulated the women to book early causing the unexpectedly high OR for early booking among these cases. The pattern for the socio-economic risk factors was not easy to interpret. The most striking finding was the U-shaped relationship between socio-economic status and stillbirths with a higher risk among those with low and high status.
Moyo
S R
SR
Department of Medical Microbiology, University of Zimbabwe, Medical School, Harare.
Tswana
S A
SA
Nyström
L
L
Mahomed
K
K
Bergström
S
S
Ljungh
A
A
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D005313:Fetal Death / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D011247:Pregnancy; D012307:Risk Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D015030:Zimbabwe / Q000453:epidemiology