Maternal and fetal characteristics and causes of stillbirth in a tertiary care hospital of Nepal: secondary analysis of registry-based surveillance data.

OBJECTIVES: Stillbirth is one of the vital indicators of quality care. This study aimed to determine maternal-fetal characteristics and causes of stillbirth in Nepal. DESIGN: Secondary analysis of single-centred registry-based surveillance data. SETTING: The study was conducted at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Chitwan Medical College Teaching Hospital, a tertiary care hospital located in Bharatpur, Nepal. PARTICIPANTS: All deliveries of intrauterine fetal death, at or beyond 22 weeks' period of gestation and/or birth weight of 500 g or more, conducted between 16 July 2017 and 15 July 2019 were included in the study. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The primary outcome measure of this study was stillbirth, and the secondary outcome measures were maternal and fetal characteristics and cause of stillbirth. RESULTS: Out of 5282 institutional deliveries conducted over 2 years, 79 (1.5%) were stillbirths, which gives the stillbirth rate of 15 per 1000 births. Of them, the majority (75; 94.9%) were vaginal delivery and only four (5.1%) were caesarean section (p