Main findings
This systematic review and meta-analysis identified 15 studies
investigating the causes of stillbirth in various ethnic groups in high
income nations. Despite over 70 thousand stillbirths included in this
review, there was an overall paucity of recent, high quality studies
investigating the causes of stillbirth in many ethnic groups. While
proportions of stillbirth attributable to various ICD-10-PM causes
appeared largely comparable between ethnic groups for which data were
available, a significant proportion of stillbirths were either
unexplained or fell into the other category, highlighting one of
the key challenges in achieving the WHO’s Every Newbornstillbirth target. Our results support the need for additional
appropriately designed autopsy studies that utilise a consistent
stillbirth classification system to further investigate the causes of
stillbirth in ethnic groups poorly represented in our study.