A review of Intra-uterine foetal deaths at the Cape Coast Teaching Hospital

Abstract

Aim: To estimate the rate of IUFD/Stillbirths (SB) Study design: This is a retrospective review of delivery suite records from Jan 1 2013 to Dec 31 2014. Methods: Study was undertaken at the Cape Coast Teaching Hospital (CCTH) in the Central region of Ghana. All pregnant women who had their babies at the delivery suite of CCTH have their records hand written in Ghana health service approved and distributed delivery records book. We identified all patients with IUFD/SB from this delivery suite record book which is kept on the delivery suite. The data collected included the age, parity, mode of delivery, total blood loss, sex of the foetus and condition of foetus i.e. Macerated stillbirth (MSB) or fresh still birth (FSB). Of the 315 IUFDs found in the records book, 26 were incompletely filled, and 13 were abortions (<28 weeks) and therefore excluded. The analysis is therefore based on 276 completed documentations. The data collected from the delivery suite records were analysed using STATA version 11.0. Results: Of the 315 IUFD/SBs documented in the delivery suite record book, 13 were abortions (<28 weeks), leaving 302 IUFD/SBs. Of this number, 26 had incomplete data and were excluded from the analysis. The analysis was thus based on 276 IUFD/SBs with complete data. Over the study period there were 5176 deliveries, giving a stillbirth rate of 58.5/1000 deliveries. Majority of the IUFD occurred in women 20-35 years of age (74.7%), and who have had two or less births (66.7%). The mean maternal age at which IUFD occurred was 29 years. Conclusion: Our review shows that the SBR of 58.5/1000, over the two years, at CCTH is high. We suggest further studies to focus on the reasons for IUFDs and what interventions can be applied to reduce