Mothers who conceive within a year of a stillbirth do not incur an increased risk of poor birth outcomes in the subsequent pregnancy, according to authors who recently published their findings in The Lancet.
The researchers conducted an international cohort study using birth record data collected from Finland (1987-2016), Norway (1980-2015), and Western Australia (1980). They identified 14,452 women who had a stillborn in their previous pregnancy, with a median interpregnancy interval afterbirth of 9 months. The study’s analysis included consecutive singleton pregnancies in women whose most recent pregnancy had resulted in stillbirth of at least 22 weeks gestation. The authors defined the interpregnancy interval as the time between the delivery date and the start of the new pregnancy (delivery date or next pregnancy minus gestational age at birth). They then calculated odds ratios (ORs) for stillbirth, preterm birth, and small-for-gestational-age birth by interpregnancy interval by country, adjusted for maternal age, parity, decade of delivery, and gestational length of the previous pregnancy, utilizing a fixed-effects meta-analysis to estimate pooled ORs.
NEW Research—Conceiving within a year of #stillbirth does not increase risks for next #pregnancy: finding from an international cohort studyhttps://t.co/bbjCtVAAM9 pic.twitter.com/crgetbppSq
— The Lancet (@TheLancet) March 1, 2019
No Ties Between One Stillbirth and Future Problems
Researchers uncovered that of the total number of births, 2% (228) were stillbirths, 18% (2,532) were preterm births, and 9% (1,284) were small-for-gestational age births. The findings indicated that juxtaposed with an interpregnancy interval of 24-59 months, intervals shorter than 12 months were not correlated with an increased odds of any ensuing stillbirths (=1.09; 95% CI, 0.63 to 1.91] for <6 months; 0.90 [0.47 to 1.71] for 6-11 months), preterm birth (0.91 [0.75 to 1.11] for <6 months;0.91 [0.74 to 1.11] for 6 to 11 months), or small-for-gestational age birth (0.66 [0.51 to 0.85] for <6 months; 0.64 [0.48 to 0.84] for 6-11 months). Moreover, they noted no discernible difference in the connection between the interpregnancy interval and birth outcomes by gestational length of the preceding stillbirth.
A Positive Discovery for Mothers
The study authors noted that the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that women “wait at least two years after a livebirth and at least six months after a miscarriage or induced abortion before conceiving again, to reduce the risk of adverse birth outcomes in the subsequent pregnancy.” However, prior to unveiling these results, no recommendation existed for the optimal waiting interval after the occurrence of a stillbirth.
After this study reported no association between stillbirths and negative outcomes in subsequent pregnancies, researchers concluded that the findings “could be used when counselling women who are planning future pregnancies after a stillbirth and for informing future recommendations for pregnancy spacing a high-income setting.”
https://twitter.com/MummyPages/status/1102559969076043776
Association between interpregnancy interval and adverse birth outcomes in women with a previous stillbirth: an international cohort study https://t.co/LO9bmYrsog
— WAMS, The World Academy of Medical Sciences (@WAMSOnline) March 4, 2019
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