title: Causes and temporal changes in nationally collected stillbirth audit data in high-resource settings.
abstract: Few high-income countries have an active national programme of stillbirth audit. From the three national programmes identified (UK, New Zealand, and the Netherlands) steady declines in annual stillbirth rates have been observed over the audit period between 1993 and 2014. Unexplained stillbirth remains the largest group in the classification of stillbirths, with a decline in intrapartum-related stillbirths, which could represent improvements in intrapartum care. All three national audits of stillbirths suggest that up to half of all reviewed stillbirths have elements of care that failed to follow standards and guidance. Variation in the classification of stillbirth, cause of death and frequency of risk factor groups limit our ability to draw meaningful conclusions as to the true scale of the burden and the changing epidemiology of stillbirths in high-income countries. International standardization of these would facilitate direct comparisons between countries. The observed declines in stillbirth rates over the period of perinatal audit, a possible consequence of recommendations for improved antenatal care, should serve to incentivise other countries to implement similar audit programmes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Sciences, College of Medicine, Biological Sciences and Psychology, University of Leicester, Centre for Medicine, Leicester, UK.
authors.forename: Tom
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Norris
authors.affiliation: MBRRACE-UK, Department of Health Sciences, College of Medicine, Biological Sciences and Psychology, University of Leicester, Centre for Medicine, Leicester, UK.
authors.forename: Bradley N
authors.initials: BN
authors.lastname: Manktelow
authors.affiliation: MBRRACE-UK, Department of Health Sciences, College of Medicine, Biological Sciences and Psychology, University of Leicester, Centre for Medicine, Leicester, UK.
authors.forename: Lucy K
authors.initials: LK
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.affiliation: MBRRACE-UK, Department of Health Sciences, College of Medicine, Biological Sciences and Psychology, University of Leicester, Centre for Medicine, Leicester, UK. Electronic address: msn@leicester.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Elizabeth S
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Draper
mesh_terms: D017281:Cost of Illness; D019049:Developed Countries; D062665:Epidemiological Monitoring; D005260:Female; D019456:Health Transition; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income; D008485:Medical Audit; D009426:Netherlands / Q000453:epidemiology; D009520:New Zealand / Q000453:epidemiology; D018743:Perinatal Care / Q000592:standards / Q000639:trends; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D011247:Pregnancy; D058996:Quality Improvement; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D012042:Registries; D012307:Risk Factors; D050497:Stillbirth / Q000191:economics / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006113:United Kingdom / Q000453:epidemiology
keywords: High income country; National perinatal audit; Stillbirth