Stillbirths and associations with education and sosiodemography : a registry study from a regional hospital in north-eastern Tanzania

Background: Every year 2, 6 million women experience a stillbirth. The vast majority occur in Sub-Saharan countries. Education is a commonly used proxy for socioeconomic status (SES) and is closely linked to health. We wanted to investigate the associations between education and stillbirths in a regional referral hospital in north eastern Tanzania (Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre, KCMC ). In addition, we wanted to identify sosiodemographic differences between stillbirths and live births. Material and methods: Since 2000, all details of every birth at KCMC has been collected and entered into an electronic file. We used data of 32252 deliveries between 2000- 2010. Outcome measure was stillbirth. We also investigated educational levels and sosiodemographic factors. Results: The share of stillbirths was three times higher in none educated mothers than in high educated mothers (6,9 % vs. 2,3%). The major difference was seen between no education and primary education. Stillbirths were significantly associated with known risk factors like multiparity and few antenatal care visits. Conclusion: Mothers with no education were associated with higher share of stillbirths. A huge decline in numbers of stillbirths between no education and primary education, underline the importance of global effort to enroll more girls in school