The rate of stillbirths among Indigenous women is declining in Queensland, however they still have a higher risk of miscarrying than non-Indigenous women, according to University of Queensland (UQ) researchers.
Stillbirths to Indigenous women fell by about a third between 1995 and 2011, ut they were still six times more likely to have a stillbirth at full term – 37 weeks – due to diabetes and three times more likely to have a stillbirth due to spontaneous preterm birth.
Dr Ibinabo Ibiebele studied more than 881,000 births, six percent of which were born to Indigenous women.
At the beginning of the study period, the indigenous stillbirth rate was 13.3 babies per 1000, but it dropped to 9.1 per 1000 pregnancies in 2011, compared with births to non-Indigenous women whose rate remained steady at about 5.9 per 1000 babies.
“We found that Indigenous stillbirth rates decreased 31.9 per cent," Dr Ibiebele said.
“Overall, the difference in stillbirth rates between Indigenous and non-Indigenous women reduced by 57.3 per cent."
Remote areas saw the biggest improvements, with rates of stillbirth dropping by 50 percent over the 16 years, compared to urban areas where rates dropped by 10 percent, and regional areas where the rates dropped by 29 percent.
“This study shows that the gap in stillbirth rates is narrowing between Indigenous and non-Indigenous women except at term where we identified a number of preventable conditions such as diabetes, infection and fetal growth restriction,” she said.
But Dr Ibiebele said there is still plenty that needs to be done to close the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous women.
"With the appropriate help and interventions there is an opportunity to further reduce the number of term stillbirths among Indigenous women," she said.
"It is vital that there is high quality antenatal care at all levels available for indigenous women that is culturally sensitive and incorporates diabetes management, stopping smoking, screening for sexually-transmitted infections and folic acid supplementation to improve pregnancy outcomes."
The study was published in the journal BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology.
Author: Kimberly Gillan. Approving editor: Kristen Amiet