Epidemiology of stillbirth in Australia: Gestational age specific risk for stillbirth and adverse newborn outcome; An analysis of national data

A robust method to predict a pregnant womans individualized risk of late-pregnancy stillbirth is needed to enable timely, appropriate care to reduce the risk of stillbirth at term. Stillbirth in late pregnancy is more likely to occur unexpectedly in normally developed babies whose mothers have had pregnancies uncomplicated by major pre-existing or arising conditions, thus offering real potential for prevention. This is a retrospective cohort study of all at- or near-term births across Australia (1997-2015) including 7,200 stillbirths among 4.9 million births at an estimated rate of 1.47 stillbirths per 1000 live births. The aim of this study is to develop a risk prediction model for late-gestation stillbirth by week of gestation for an Australian population.