Intra Uterine Fetal Death and Some Related Factors: A Silent Tragedy in Southeastern Iran

Objective: To determine the incidence, and some causes of intra uterine fetal death (IUFD). Methods: This was a prospective observational study of all stillbirths over 2 years from April 2011 to April 2013 at the Imam Ali University Teaching Hospital of zahedan, Iran. The variables studied were the following: demographic characteristic, fetal factors and maternal factors. Data was collected prospectively by directly interviewing the pregnant women and from the medical chart. Data were analyzed using SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) statistical package. Results: The incidence of IUFD at our hospital was 88.7 per 1000 total births. The intra uterine fetal death rate had been increased in maternal ages under 20 years and above 35 years that showed a significant difference between this group and other groups (P=0.001).The rate of IUFD tend to increase significantly in primiparous women and women with parity 10 and more. The rate of IUFD tended to decreased with increasing gestational age. There were 437 (54.1%) macerated and 370 (45.8%) fresh death fetus. Unexplained’ IUFD, Major congenital malformations, PROM, and preeclampsia were the three main causes of intra uterine fetal death. Discussion: Unfortunately, in our study the incidence of IUFD was very high. The main risk factors identified were lack of antenatal care. Despite the difficulty in predicting IUFD occurrence, it appears that carefully implemented antenatal care, family planning, genetic counseling and timely management of at risk patients may contribute to its prevention. *Corresponding author: Ameneh Safarzadeh, Department of Midwifery, Pregnancy Health Research Center, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, Iran, Tel: 09123604873; Fax: 09805412442481; E-mail: [email protected] Received December 16, 2013; Accepted January 15, 2014; Published January 17, 2014 Citation: Safarzadeh A, Ghaedniajahromi M, Ghaedniajahromi M, Rigi F, Massori N (2014) Intra Uterine Fetal Death and Some Related Factors: A Silent Tragedy in Southeastern Iran. J Pain Relief 3: 129. doi:10.4172/2167-0846.1000129 Copyright: © 2014 Safarzadeh A, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.