Background: Stillbirth is one of the most serious adverse outcomes of pregnancy. Each year approximately 2.6 million stillbirths are reported worldwide, with 98% of those stillbirths occurring in developing countries. Aim: To investigate the prevalence and causative factors associated with stillbirths and clinical presentation of mothers who deliver stillbirths at a tertiary hospital. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted at the Maternity Unit of Nelson Mandela Academic Hospital (NMAH), Mthatha, South Africa. Mothers who delivered stillbirths were interviewed using a pre-coded questionnaire. Additional data were extracted from the clinical notes, and relevant laboratory investigations were carried out. Data were entered into MS EXCEL and then imported into SPSS statistical software package for analyses. The level of significance was set at P < 0.05. Results: There was a total of 2709 deliveries at NMAH during the period under review, and of these, there were 203 stillbirths, giving a hospital-based stillbirth rate of 74.9 per 1000 deliveries. The obstetric complications associated with stillbirths were preeclampsia (57.6%), abruptio placentae (28.1%), eclampsia (12.8), and placenta previa (3.9%). Of the preeclamptic patients, 20.2% had abruptio placentae, and 2.5% of eclamptic patients also had abruptio placentae. Conclusion: In this study, the stillbirth rate was high. Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy and abruptio placentae were major contributing factors to this birth outcome. The provision of quality antenatal care, monitoring of labour, and an effective referral system need to be strengthened to reduce this high rate of stillbirths.
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