Maternal and fetal baseline characteristics
Baseline maternal and fetal characteristics of stillbirths (n=144) and
controls (n=247) are shown in Table 1 . Our IUFD cohort
consisted of 73 (50.7%) male and 71 (49.3%) female fetuses between
21+1 and 41+3 gestational weeks at a
median age of 31+4 gestational weeks. Median fetal
weight at stillbirth was 1397 (180-4450)g. Causes of IUFD according to
CODAC were congenital fetal malformations in 72 (50.0%) cases;
placental pathologies in 26 (18.1%) cases; unknown despite thorough
investigation or due to lack of important information in 25 (17.4%)
cases; fetal conditions in 9 (6.3%) cases, umbilical cord complications
in 6 (4.2%) cases, maternal conditions in 4 (2.8%) cases and IUFD due
to infection in 2 (1.4%) cases.
The matched live birth cohort consisted of 138 (55.9%) male and 109
(44.1%) female fetuses born alive between 21+1 and
41+3 gestational weeks at a median age of
31+6 gestational weeks. Median newborn weight at
delivery was 1880 (341-4540)g with a median Apgar score of 8 points at 1
minute and 9 points at 5 and 10 minutes, respectively, with a median
arterial pH of 7.29 (6.89-7.46). From the five matched live births under
22+0 gestational weeks, case 1 was noted to have a
univentricular heart (male, birth weight 482g, Apgar 1/1/1), case 2 had
a preterm delivery following premature rupture of membranes (female,
354g, Apgar 2/1/1), case 3 had bilateral kidney agenesis with
oligohydramnios (male, 341g, Apgar 1/1/1), case 4 suffered amniotic
infection followed by preterm delivery (male, 440g, Apgar 1/0/0) and
case 5 had commissural agenesis and vermis hypoplasia (male, 541g, Apgar
2/1/1). None of those extremely premature newborns survived the first 2
weeks of life.