Clarity and consistency in stillbirth reporting in Europe: why is it so hard to get this right?

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F00023698%3A_____%2F22%3AN0000009" target="_blank" >RIV/00023698:_____/22:N0000009 - isvavai.cz</a>

Result on the web

<a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8975542/" target="_blank" >https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8975542/</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/ckac001" target="_blank" >10.1093/eurpub/ckac001</a>

Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Clarity and consistency in stillbirth reporting in Europe: why is it so hard to get this right?

Original language description

Background Stillbirth is a major public health problem, but measurement remains a challenge even in high-income countries. We compared routine stillbirth statistics in Europe reported by Eurostat with data from the Euro-Peristat research network. Methods We used data on stillbirths in 2015 from both sources for 31 European countries. Stillbirth rates per 1000 total births were analyzed by gestational age (GA) and birthweight groups. Information on termination of pregnancy at >= 22 weeks' GA was analyzed separately. Results Routinely collected stillbirth rates were higher than those reported by the research network. For stillbirths with a birthweight >= 500 g, the difference between the mean rates of the countries for Eurostat and Euro-Peristat data was 22% [4.4/1000, versus 3.5/1000, mean difference 0.9 with 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.8-1.0]. When using a birthweight threshold of 1000 g, this difference was smaller, 12% (2.9/1000, versus 2.5/1000, mean difference 0.4 with 95% CI 0.3-0.5), but substantial differences remained for individual countries. In Euro-Peristat, missing data on birthweight ranged from 0% to 29% (average 5.0%) and were higher than missing data for GA (0-23%, average 1.8%). Conclusions Routine stillbirth data for European countries in international databases are not comparable and should not be used for benchmarking or surveillance without careful verification with other sources. Recommendations for improvement include using a cut-off based on GA, excluding late terminations of pregnancy and linking multiple sources to improve the quality of national databases.

Czech name

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Czech description

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Type

J_imp - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database

CEP classification

—

OECD FORD branch

30214 - Obstetrics and gynaecology

Project

—

Continuities

N - Vyzkumna aktivita podporovana z neverejnych zdroju

Publication year

2022

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Name of the periodical

EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF PUBLIC HEALTH

ISSN

1101-1262

e-ISSN

1464-360X

Volume of the periodical

32

Issue of the periodical within the volume

2

Country of publishing house

GB - UNITED KINGDOM

Number of pages

7

Pages from-to

200-206

UT code for WoS article

000764175100001

EID of the result in the Scopus database

2-s2.0-85128161136