[A study of high artificial fetal death rates in Miyazaki City and surrounding areas].
OBJECTIVE
This study investigated artificial fetal death rates in Miyazaki city and surrounding areas served by the Miyazaki Prefectural Health Center, and examined risk factors related with artificial fetal deaths.


METHODS
1. Based on Vital Statistics and Statistics on Artificial Abortion and Eugenic Operations, rates of artificial fetal deaths and artificial abortions in the research area were compared with those in the whole of Japan. 2. Using fetal death certificates and birth certificates, 279 artificial fetal deaths in legitimate pregnancies from 1990 to 1993 were compared by socio-demographic variables with 1012 randomly selected live births in 1992.


RESULTS
The artificial fetal death rate in the research area was 2.1 times that in the whole of Japan, and the rates in the maternal age group under 20 and over 40 years were extremely high. One of the reasons for the high artificial fetal death rate was due to late operation period of abortions, which in Japan is required to be reported as artificial fetal deaths after the 12th week of gestation. The delay was observed frequently in the maternal age group under 20 years, a group in which abortion rate was extremely high. From the comparisons between artificial fetal deaths of the legitimate and live births, it appears that older maternal age, higher number of live birth experiences, and history of past still birth, were related strongly to increased risk of artificial fetal death. Risk of artificial fetal death was significantly higher in urban areas than in rural areas. A large number of abortions were performed in medical facilities that delivered few live births.


CONCLUSIONS
The high artificial fetal death rate in Miyazaki city and surrounding areas was due to high frequency of abortions and late operation period. In legitimate pregnancies, maternal age and birth history were related strongly to artificial fetal deaths. Continuous health education in family planning from adolescence through pre-menopause is important to prevent unnecessary artificial abortions.
Todaka
Y
Y
Miyazaki Public Health Center.
Fujita
T
T
Takahama
N
N
Matsumoto
K
K
D000028:Abortion, Induced / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D005313:Fetal Death / Q000453:epidemiology; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology