Unemployed women more likely to lose children near birth, study shows

The first in-depth national audit into the death of babies in the weeks before or after birth has found certain categories of women are more affected by perinatal loss, including the unemployed and those belonging to ethnic minorities.

The Perinatal Mortality in Ireland Annual Report 2011, launched today, also found women aged 40 upwards were over-represented when it comes to losing a child around the time of birth.

Mothers aged at least 40 made up 10% of those whose babies died compared to 5% of the total women who gave birth in 2011.

In terms of ethnicity, Traveller, black/black Irish and other/mixed ethnicities were over-represented, accounting for 8.7% of those who experienced perinatal loss, even though these groups made up just 3.3% of the female 15-49-year-old population. In terms of occupation, “unemployed” was recorded by 15% of the mothers experiencing perinatal loss, compared to just 4% of all mothers.

The report’s authors said while monitoring the socio-economic status of pregnant women is challenging “further efforts must be made if we are to better understand how social disadvantage impacts on perinatal outcomes”.

The audit by the National Perinatal Epidemiology Centre based in the department of obstetrics and gynaecology at UCC, found:

* A total of 491 perinatal deaths in 2011 were recorded, arising from 74,265 births of at least 24 weeks gestation or at least 500 grams in birthweight;

* Major congenital anomaly was the most common cause of death and Irish figures in this respect were higher than reported in most European countries;

* The proportion of stillbirths due to major congenital anomaly has increased in Ireland from 19% in 2008 to 26% in 2011. In 2011 the figure was 318;

* 13% of perinatal deaths arose from multiple birth deliveries even though multiple births accounted for just 4% of births in 2011;

* Deaths within the first seven days of life (early neonatal deaths) and deaths within the first eight to 28 days of life (late neonatal deaths) accounted for 138 (28%) and 35 (7%) of the 491 deaths respectively.

About 70% of deaths arose from pre-term births (before 37 weeks) and low birthweight was prevalent.

The perinatal mortality rate was 6.1 per 1,000 births. Irish rates have fallen about 10% in the four years for which the centre has reported national figures.