RESEARCH ARTICLE Open Access A structured review and e

Full list of author information is available at the end of the articleIn the UK, stillbirth is defined as “a baby delivered with no signs of life, known to have died at 24 completed weeks of pregnancy onwards ” [1]. In 2012, there were 3,558 stillbirths in England and Wales, a rate of 4.9 per 1,000 total births [2]. Despite advances in obstetric care, the incidence of stillbirth is not significantly lower than 1,000 total births). Of concern is the UK stillbirth rate which ranks 33rd out 35 high-income countries [2,3]. In contrast to other pregnancy complications such as preterm birth and preeclampsia [4-6], the economic impact of stillbirth is poorly understood. This is problematic for two reasons; first it underestimates the societal impact of stillbirth in comparison to other pregnancy complications. Second, it represents a major obstacle in the evaluatio