Preventable stillbirths in India and Pakistan: a prospective, observational study.

OBJECTIVE: Stillbirths occur 10-20 times more frequently in low-income settings compared with high-income settings. We created a methodology to define the proportion of stillbirths that are potentially preventable in low-income settings and applied it to stillbirths in sites in India and Pakistan. DESIGN: Prospective observational study. SETTING: Three maternity hospitals in Davangere, India and a large public hospital in Karachi, Pakistan. POPULATION: All cases of stillbirth at ≥20 weeks of gestation occurring from July 2018 to February 2020 were screened for participation; 872 stillbirths were included in this analysis. METHODS: We prospectively defined the conditions and gestational ages that defined the stillbirth cases considered potentially preventable. Informed consent was sought from the parent(s) once the stillbirth was identified, either before or soon after delivery. All information available, including obstetric and medical history, clinical course, fetal heart sounds on admission, the presence of maceration as well as examination of the stillbirth after delivery, histology, and polymerase chain reaction for infectious pathogens of the placenta and various fetal tissues, was used to assess whether a stillbirth was potentially preventable. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Whether a stillbirth was determined to be potentially preventable and the criteria for assignment to those categories. RESULTS: Of 984 enrolled, 872 stillbirths at ≥20 weeks of gestation met the inclusion criteria and were included; of these, 55.5% were deemed to be potentially preventable. Of the 649 stillbirths at ≥28 weeks of gestation and ≥1000 g birthweight, 73.5% were considered potentially preventable. The most common conditions associated with a potentially preventable stillbirth at ≥28 weeks of gestation and ≥1000 g birthweight were small for gestational age (SGA) (52.8%), maternal hypertension (50.2%), antepartum haemorrhage (31.4%) and death that occurred after hospital admission (15.7%). CONCLUSIONS: Most stillbirths in these sites were deemed preventable and were often associated with maternal hypertension, antepartum haemorrhage, SGA and intrapartum demise. TWEETABLE ABSTRACT: Most stillbirths are preventable by better care for women with hypertension, growth restriction and antepartum haemorrhage.

Experience with anti-hypertensive drug therapy in a hypertension clinic--1972-1983. A retrospective analysis.

Retrospective experience with drug therapy in 747 patients with essential hypertension registered from 1972-1983 is reported. Five hundred patients were seen between 1972 to 1978 and 247 between 1979-1983; the latter group was characterised by the use of beta blockers as first line drugs. Hypertension was graded according to level of diastolic blood pressure as mild, moderate and moderately severe or severe in 423, 211, and 113 patients, respectively. The overall response to treatment at 6 months was satisfactory in 66.2% of mild, 50.2% of moderate and 58.4% of severe grades of hypertension. A large number of patients in both the groups having varying grades of severity needed at least 2 to 3 drugs for the control of hypertension. The side effects of drugs were generally mild which included general weakness with diuretics; skin rash, nasal congestion and pruritus with methyldopa; cold extremities with beta blockers and palpitations with prazosin.

Diagnostic evaluation of hypertension: pilot study in a hypertension clinic.

Two hundred and eighty-two (282) patients suffering from hypertension were evaluated for the detection of secondary forms of hypertension. Apart from clinical and routine laboratroy investigation in each, straight film of abdomen, intravenous pyelography (IVP), isotope renography and aortography were done in 174, 51, 109 and 2 cases respectively. Evidences of secondary hypertension was present in 22(7.8%) of which renal aetiology was probable in all but 4. Of the 10 patients with a primary kidney condition, possible renal aetiology was unsuspected in only one patient with unilateral renal hypoplasia. In 8 patients with renal involvement due to systemic disease, or in 4 with non-renal causes, the aetiological diagnosis was suggested by the clinical situation. In view of low yield of curable hypertension and high cost, IVP and renography should only be employed selectively and not as routine investigations.