Physical and Psychological Maternal Morbidity After Stillbirth: Findings from a Tertiary Care Centre in Eastern India

Background: World Health Organisation International ICD 10th revision defines stillborn as death of a fetus with a birthweight of ≥ 1000 grams or a gestational age of ≥ 28 weeks. After or during delivery of stillborn baby, maternal morbidity needs to be evaluated. The objective was to evaluate the various adverse clinical outcomes of mother who had stillbirths. Methods: A prospective observational study was done at Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Jalpaiguri Government Medical College, India from February 2024 to December 2024 among 95 mothers who underwent stillbirth delivery. Results: The majority of study participants belonged to age group below 20 years followed by the age group of 21-25 years. Only 54 mothers had their pregnancies booked. Out of 95 study population the study demonstrated most common adverse physical outcome as infectious complications (47) followed by uterine (30), haemorrhagic (27) & renal complications (23). 39 mothers developed mild depression & 13 mothers developed moderate depression. Operative and conservative specific medical management were required for 7 & 48 mothers respectively. 40 mothers had no complications and required no specific management. Conclusions: This present study showed significant rise of physical & psychological complications among study population (total 55 mothers out of 95) after stillbirth. Reporting of maternal morbidity after stillborn should be done from institutional to national level using the ICD code (9 or 10) for SMM (severe maternal morbidity) to assess the magnitude.