Small babies may raise stillbirth risk

Women who give birth to small babies — whether prematurely or not — are more likely to have a stillborn during their next pregnancy, a study found.

The Swedish study, published in Thursday’s New England Journal of Medicine, suggests that the same causes may underlie both stillbirths and stunted growth in fetuses.

However, since so little can be done about many growth problems, the study is not expected to bring about any big changes in obstetrics.

The researchers used a national registry with 410,021 women who had two consecutive pregnancies resulting in live or stillbirths.

Women who had small but full-term babies ran double the risk of a stillbirth in their next pregnancy.

Small babies, higher risk
Preterm newborns raised the later risk of a stillbirth only if they were also small for their fetal age. The risk of a later stillbirth was five times higher if the newborn was both very small for its fetal age and very early in its delivery — before 32 weeks.

Newborns who were in the bottom 2.5 percent in size at a given stage of development were considered small for their fetal age.

Though small newborns heightened the risk of later stillbirths, the overall rate of stillbirths for the second pregnancy was low at 2.6 per 1,000 births. Even in the highest risk group, there were only 19 stillbirths per 1,000 births.

For Subscribers

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCBP leaders cut out of Trump ad buy decision

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAmerican passenger drafted goodbye texts to her family as Flydubai plane plummeted

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCornell rape allegation pushes embattled New York prosecutor into national spotlight

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAbdul El-Sayed tries to woo MAHA voters as Democrats seek inroads with RFK’s supporters

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKratom-like substances are popping up in a typically benign supplement

FOR SUBSCRIBERSGOP super PAC increases its spending for Sen. Jon Husted in tough Ohio race

FOR SUBSCRIBERSRecords reveal tumultuous marriage between slain New York Times executive and wife

FOR SUBSCRIBERSFrom clean energy warrior to ‘wall of shame,’ James Talarico reverses on a fossil fuel money pledge

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCongressional staff planned official trip with luxury stops in Italy and France weeks before election

FOR SUBSCRIBERSA harrowing ordeal aboard an Israel-bound plane

FOR SUBSCRIBERSOpenAI CEO Sam Altman to skip congressional hearing on rogue AI agents

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKey DOJ lawyers departed Trump ‘grand conspiracy’ probe amid pressure to produce, source says

FOR SUBSCRIBERSTrump’s new AI chatbot often links to a site launched under Clinton 26 years ago

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAt MAHA summit, industry CEOs the movement once vilified take the stage

FOR SUBSCRIBERSThis Paralympian has two goals: Win medals and give away $500,000 to her teammates

For Subscribers

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCBP leaders cut out of Trump ad buy decision

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAmerican passenger drafted goodbye texts to her family as Flydubai plane plummeted

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCornell rape allegation pushes embattled New York prosecutor into national spotlight

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAbdul El-Sayed tries to woo MAHA voters as Democrats seek inroads with RFK’s supporters

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKratom-like substances are popping up in a typically benign supplement

FOR SUBSCRIBERSGOP super PAC increases its spending for Sen. Jon Husted in tough Ohio race

FOR SUBSCRIBERSRecords reveal tumultuous marriage between slain New York Times executive and wife

FOR SUBSCRIBERSFrom clean energy warrior to ‘wall of shame,’ James Talarico reverses on a fossil fuel money pledge

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCongressional staff planned official trip with luxury stops in Italy and France weeks before election

FOR SUBSCRIBERSA harrowing ordeal aboard an Israel-bound plane

FOR SUBSCRIBERSOpenAI CEO Sam Altman to skip congressional hearing on rogue AI agents

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKey DOJ lawyers departed Trump ‘grand conspiracy’ probe amid pressure to produce, source says

FOR SUBSCRIBERSTrump’s new AI chatbot often links to a site launched under Clinton 26 years ago

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAt MAHA summit, industry CEOs the movement once vilified take the stage

FOR SUBSCRIBERSThis Paralympian has two goals: Win medals and give away $500,000 to her teammates

Infections, respiratory problems, congenital defects and other factors can cause stillbirths. This study did not consider the causes of the stillbirths, so it is not clear exactly which ones stillbirths and small-for-fetal-age births may share.

A probe called Doppler ultrasound can show blood flow in a fetus and point to possible nutritional problems and stunted growth at an early stage of development.

Study raises questions
However, the study leaves doctors in a bind over whether to induce delivery of very preterm babies with serious growth problems. An early delivery could save the child from stillbirth but put it at risk by such an early birth.

“If you have a baby that may be suffering 14 weeks prior to delivery, how to you deal with this one? I don’t think anybody knows,” said one of the researchers, Dr. Sven Cnattingius of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm.

However, pediatrician Dr. Mark Klebanoff, a researcher at the National Institutes of Health who co-wrote an accompanying commentary, said the study should at least help doctors and women judge the magnitude of risk for stillbirths.