The likely causes of and contributors to stillbirth identified by the study are listed below in order from most common to least common:1.

If you experience any of these symptoms while you are pregnant, contact your healthcare provider immediately. The cause of stillbirths can vary based on gestational age and underlying risk factors, though in some cases the cause is not known. Is There a Connection Between Infection and Pregnancy Loss? Your health care provider can share more information about this. CDC works to learn more about who might have a stillbirth and why. Having an autopsy on the baby and other laboratory tests is important in trying to understand why the baby died before birth. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. Your health care provider can share more information about this. Compared with stillbirths experienced by white women and Hispanic women, stillbirths to non-Hispanic black women tended to be caused by infection or by complications of pregnancy and labor.

Get the latest public health information from CDC: https://www.coronavirus.gov Learn more about stillbirth below. Rates ranged from 3.1 in Northern Ireland to 4.6 in Scotland. According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), around 14% of stillbirths are caused by birth defects or genetic conditions.. 1. In the United States, stillbirths are more than twice as likely among black women than among white women.2 However, the reasons for this are not entirely clear. This could be a condition that a person had before becoming pregnant or one that developed during pregnancy.

To avoid complications, healthcare providers usually recommend inducing labor at or before 42 weeks gestation. Updated April 2019. Updated December 13, 2011. Verywell Family uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. You will be subject to the destination website's privacy policy when you follow the link. A pregnant person's health conditions and lifestyle can also increase the risk of intrauterine growth restriction. Black women were more likely than women in general to have experienced at least three such stressful events in the past year.3, US Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Intramural Population Health Research (DIPHR), Women in Science Profiles: Text Alternative, Bioinformatics and Scientific Programming Core, Philip Adams Lab: Group on Gene Regulation in Bacterial Pathogens, National Center for Medical Rehabilitation Research (NCMRR), Best Pharmaceuticals for Children Act (BPCA), Fragile X-Associated Primary Ovarian Insufficiency (FXPOI), Fragile X-Associated Tremor and Ataxia Syndrome (FXTAS), Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDDs), National Child and Maternal Health Education Program, Active Funding Opportunity Announcements (FOAs) and NIH Guide Notices (NOTs) for NICHD, Parent Announcements (For Unsolicited or Investigator-Initiated Applications), Support for Training at Universities and Other Institutions, Training in the Division of Intramural Research (DIR), Training in the Division of Intramural Population Health Research (DIPHR). Intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) is a condition where a fetus is significantly smaller than expected for the number of weeks of pregnancy. About 10% of stillbirths are related to cord abnormalities..

To learn more about the possible causes of and contributors to stillbirth, the NICHD-supported Stillbirth Collaborative Research Network (SCRN) examined more than 500 stillbirths that occurred in 59 medical centers around the United States over 2½ years. Saving Lives, Protecting People, National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities (NCBDDD) Division of Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities Activities, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (NCCDPHP) Division of Reproductive Health Activities, National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) Activities, U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, have certain medical conditions, such as high blood pressure, diabetes and obesity, have multiple pregnancies such as triplets or quadruplets, Hoyert DL, Gregory ECW. Stillbirth with an unknown cause is called “unexplained stillbirth.” Having an unexplained stillbirth is more likely to occur the further along a woman is in her pregnancy. Get the latest research information from NIH: https://www.nih.gov/coronavirus

A fetal loss before 20 weeks is typically referred to as a miscarriage. Giving birth to a stillborn baby is a fear that many people have when they are pregnant. Healthcare providers screen for these problems during prenatal care. Differences in factors such as maternal health, income, access to quality health care, stress, social and emotional support resources and cultural factors may explain how these factors are related to having a stillbirth. Stillbirth Collaborative Research Network Writing Group.

Stillbirth. Pregnancy Due Date Calculator: How Many Weeks Pregnant Are You? In the United States, a miscarriage is usually defined as loss of a baby before the 20th week of pregnancy, and a stillbirth is loss of a baby after 20 weeks of pregnancy. 2014. 2011;306(22):2459-2468. doi:10.1001/jama.2011.1823. Introduction. The SCRN study found that the most common causes of stillbirth were different for black women than for white women. View and print fact sheet » pdf icon[482 KB / 2 pages], Stillbirth affects about 1 in 160 births, and each year about 24,000 babies are stillborn in the United States.1 That is about the same number of babies that die during the first year of life and it is more than 10 times as many deaths as the number that occur from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).2, Because of advances in medical technology over the last 30 years, prenatal care (medical care during pregnancy) has improved, which has dramatically reduced the number of late and term stillbirth.3 However, the rate of early stillbirth has remained about the same over time.3. These factors are also associated with other poor pregnancy outcomes, such as preterm birth. Krissi Danielsson, MD is a doctor of family medicine and an advocate for those who have experienced miscarriage. Remember, though, that in some cases of stillbirth, the cause of death remains unknown even after extensive testing. [. By using Verywell Family, you accept our, Chromosomal Abnormalities and Birth Defects, Placental Abruption and Other Obstetric Complications, 7 Tips on How to Keep Your Unborn Baby Healthy, Vanishing Twin Syndrome Statistics and Risks, How to Prevent Placental Abruption From Occurring in Pregnancy. This can happen because of a pregnant person's health conditions, trauma to the abdomen in later pregnancy, or structural abnormalities in the uterus. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. Did Sex in Pregnancy Cause Your Miscarriage? Stillbirth has no standard definition and the definition therefore varies in different countries. A pregnant person's health conditions and lifestyle can also increase the risk of intrauterine growth restriction. In almost one-quarter of these cases, the researchers could not determine a probable or even a possible cause of death.