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Risk of Stillbirth Following a Cesarean Delivery

2006; Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; Volume: 107; Issue: 2, Part 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1097/01.aog.0000195103.46999.32

1873-233X

Hamisu M. Salihu, Puza P. Sharma, Sibylle Kristensen, Cassandra Blot, Amina P. Alio, Cande V. Ananth, Russell S. Kirby,

Assisted Reproductive Technology and Twin Pregnancy

We examine the association between prior cesarean delivery and risk of stillbirth in a subsequent pregnancy.The Missouri maternally linked cohort data set containing births from 1978 through 1997 was used. We identified a cohort of women who delivered live births by cesarean delivery and a comparison cohort of women who delivered live births vaginally in their first pregnancies. We then compared the risks of stillbirth in the second pregnancy between the 2 groups.We analyzed 396,441 women with information on first and second pregnancies, comprising 71,950 (18.1%) in the cesarean arm, and 324,491 (81.9%) in the vaginal birth arm. Rates of stillbirth among women with and those without history of cesarean delivery were 4.4 and 4.1 per 1,000 births, respectively (P = .2). The adjusted estimates also showed no difference in risk for stillbirth between the 2 groups (odds ratio [OR] 1.1, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.0-1.3). Among whites, the stillbirth rates in women with and those without history of cesarean delivery were 3.7 and 3.6 per 1,000 births, respectively (OR 1.0, 95% CI 0.9-1.2). Among blacks, both the absolute and the adjusted relative risks for stillbirth were elevated in mothers with history of cesarean delivery (stillbirth rate 9.3 versus 6.8 per 1,000 births; OR 1.4, 95% CI 1.1-1.7).Overall, our analysis did not detect an association between cesarean history and subsequent stillbirth. However, cesarean delivery may increase the risk for subsequent stillbirth among black mothers, a group with the highest cesarean delivery rate in the country.III.