Perinatal mortality

1. Big picture

Perinatal mortality is one of the most important outcome measures in obstetrics because it reflects the quality of antenatal care, intrapartum monitoring, neonatal resuscitation, and early neonatal intensive care.

For the oral exam, the examiner wants you to explain:

1. What is counted in perinatal mortality.
2. Why fetuses/newborns die around birth.
3. How to recognize pregnancies at risk before death occurs.
4. How to manage acute fetal compromise.
5. How to investigate and manage intrauterine fetal death/stillbirth.
6. How to prevent recurrence in the next pregnancy.

Core idea:

Perinatal mortality usually results from failure of placental oxygen/nutrient supply, prematurity, congenital anomalies, infection, intrapartum hypoxia, or severe maternal disease.

---