Wednesday, January 03, 2007

Predicting antepartum stillbirth

Smith GC.
Curr Opin Obstet Gynecol. 2006 Dec;18(6):625-30.

Global analyses of stillbirth risk demonstrate that 98% occur in the developing world and that many are due to potentially preventable causes.

Summary: Relatively simple interventions may be successful in reducing the
global burden of stillbirth. Further biological understanding of the causes of
stillbirth is required to reduce the burden of the disease in the developed world.


Now tell me to be quiet and not to talk about stillbirth. Tell me not to scare anyone who wishes to remain blissfully unaware during their pregnancy. POTENTIALLY PREVENTABLE. It should scare you.

In response to Kellie's comment:
I don't think they are blaming the mother so much as saying that it's not "just something that happens." It's not something that is acceptable anymore. Instead, FINALLY, they are saying that there IS a reason to be aware of the possibility. For too long we have been indoctrinated to believe that we shouldn't talk about the possibility of stillbirth because there is just nothing that can be done about it. This study shows that is just NOT TRUE. There is a possibility that stillbirth CAN BE PREVENTED. Instead of sticking our heads in the sand like society has, we can research the living crap out of it, get to the root causes, and save some babies.

4 comments:

Kellie said...

Potentially preventable? That just pisses me off to no end. As if any of us need another reason to feel guilty.

Maybe if womens health care here in the "developing world" was a little better - the "burden" wouldn't be as great?

When in doubt, blame the mother.

I'm not bitter or anything...

Anonymous said...

I think you both may be right. Doctors may finally be facing the fact that they have screwed up royally for many dozens of years, but along the way there will be a healthy dose of, "Why didn't woman push harder for this?" sort of like when breast cancer survival rates went up.
I just hope they actually bother to research it more. The Lancet had a huge project on this, for free I think. If I ever find the link I'll post it.

Kellie said...

You're probably right Catherine. I read more into it than was there. I hadn't thought about it like that. Funny how two different people can read something and see competely different sides. lol

Prior to loosing Jacob, I knew that stillbirths *occasionally* happened but to say that he was my 5th pregnancy - never was stillbirth (or pregnancy complications in general) really explained or talked about in a "preventative" manner by any doctor I ever saw. In fact, quite the opposite - even when I raised questions about my history of pre-eclampsia and gestational diabetis - I was basically told to "relax" and not get myself worked up about something that probably wouldn't ever happen again in future pregnancies. Very much the wait and see approach. "Shhhhh don't talk about it... maybe it won't happen."

Even the day I found out that Jacob no longer had a heartbeat - *I* had known for almost 24 hours something was right. I called my doctors office several times insisting on an appointment to be checked and because I wasn't in any pain or had any bleeding, it was not a priority.

Saving some babies is definetly the goal. I'll chill now. hehehe

Unknown said...

I know my son's death could have been prevented, I just didn't know enough about it to catch it myself. My blood group is A neg, I was not given a very necessary shot of RhoGam on my first pregnancy due to incorrect blood testing, and I developed antibodies. My dr never caught it and my son was still born (10 days before my due date, 9 lbs 5 oz). Basically, my antibodies attacked him and killed him. My second son had 5 intrauterine transfusions which helped him to be born healthy but then my antibodies once again went to work and he developed life-threatening jaundice which left him deaf and with mild cerebral palsy. I had my tubes tied after that. I didn't want to put another little baby through anything similar.

Mom

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