Every year about 1 in 167 pregnancies will end in the stillbirth of the baby. That means that after the 20th week of pregnancy, the baby dies before birth. A new study was done to see if stress in pregnancy contributed to the rates of stillbirth. Using a CDC questionnaire from Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS), over 2,000 mothers who had experienced a stillbirth were asks about stress risk factors. These included things like abuse, financial situation, etc.
Having two of these events increased the stillbirth rate by 40% and if a mother had more than 2.5 times the risk of stillbirth. Don't panic. This doesn't show the cause and effect relationship, so at this point we can't really say any more about it than there appears to be a connection, but we don't know what that means. I would also encourage you to look at the questionnaire. Figure out what you can do to decrease the amount of stress in your life. And remember, all stress is not the same. If you feel that you are at a greater risk, talk to your midwife or doctor about this issue during your prenatal appointments. They may have some helpful advice.
Source:
Hogue, Carol J. R., Parker, Corette B., Willinger, Marian, Temple, Jeff R., Bann, Carla M., Silver, Robert M., . . . Group, Human Development Stillbirth Collaborative Research Network Writing. (2013). A Population-based Case-Control Study of Stillbirth: The Relationship of Significant Life Events to the Racial Disparity for African Americans. American Journal of Epidemiology. doi: 10.1093/aje/kws381
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Stress and Stillbirth originally appeared on About.com Pregnancy & Childbirth on Friday, March 29th, 2013 at 17:06:22.
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