A perinatal audit of stillbirths in a teaching hospital in Hong Kong.

In a 5-year period, the stillbirth rate in a teaching hospital in Hong Kong was 4.4 per 1,000 total births, which accounted for 61% of the perinatal deaths. The stillbirth rate was 5.8 times higher in twin pregnancies, and 17 times higher in triplet pregnancies. One quarter of the patients were nonbooked, and 14.5% had no antenatal care. The stillbirth rates were 3.8 and 8.0 per 1,000 among the booked and nonbooked cases respectively. The major causes of stillbirths were congenital abnormalities, haemoglobin Bart disease, abruptio placentae and gestational diabetes. No specific cause could be found in 46% of cases. There were 31 intrapartum deaths, of which 5 were potentially salvageable.