Document
Profile of fetal deaths in Dhahira Region, Oman.
Publisher
Oman Medical Specialty Board.
Gregorian
2008-01
Language
English
Subject
English abstract
Objective: To study the profile of reported fetal death cases and
describe the circumstances under which these deaths occurred.
Methods: This is a retrospective case series study of 154
fetal deaths that occurred in the entire Dhahira region health
institutions during a 5 year period ( January 2000 and December
2004). The fetal death notification form and mortality meeting
summaries were used to ascertain the possible causative factors
of fetal death.
Results: There were a total of 16923 births and 154 fetal deaths
in the region, with fetal death rate of 9.1/1000 total births for the
study period. The mean age of the mothers at admission was 29.5
± 7.3 years. The most common factors related to fetal deaths were
congenital anomalies (18.2%) followed by, cord abnormalities
(16.9%), IUGR (15.5%), hypertension (14.9%), polyhydramnios
(13.6%), gestational diabetes (12.2%), Rh incompatibility (9.7%)
and abruptio placentae (6.5%). Approximately 50% of the
mothers had a previous pregnancy history of IUGR, preterm,
LBW, polyhydramnios, abortion and fetal death. The important
contributing factors of fetal death were anemia (47.9%) that
needed further investigation. Advanced maternal age, grand
multiparity and overweight were also the important associated
factors of fetal death in Dhahira region.
Conclusion: The patients with a previous history of fetal
demise should be managed under high risk category with close
antepartum surveillance, especially in the last trimester, so as to
reduce intrauterine fetal deaths which are mostly attributable to
preventable causes.
Member of
Resource URL
Citation
Patel, Prakash K. (2008). Profile of fetal deaths in Dhahira Region, Oman.Oman Medical Journal, 23 (1), 15-20.
Category
Journal articles