Verbal Autopsy of 115 Cases of Intra Uterine Fetal Death at Tertiary Care Centre

Objective: To identify the maternal, socio-demographic fetal and medical care factors involved in fetal death. And to determine possible preventive action for reducing rate of fetal death in our country.

Material and method: A retrospective study of hospital records and death summaries of all intrauterine fetal death (IUFD) over the period from August 2011 to July 2012 was carried out.

Results: There were a total of 115 IUFD out of 920 deliveries giving fetal death rate of 125 per 1000 births. Low socio-economic profile 76%, illiteracy 66.09% and lack of prenatal care 65.22% are important epidemiological risk factors. The commonest feto-maternal risk factor was placental hemorrhage 20% followed by hypertensive disease of pregnancy 19.13% and prematurity 9.56%.

Conclusion: Placental hemorrhage, hypertensive diseases, lack of antenatal care, illiteracy and lack of health awareness emerged out as important risk factor for IUFD most of which are amenable to intervention.