Incidence and risk of stillbirth among various Asian-American subgroups

Abstract

Background

Striking racial/ethnic disparities exist in pregnancy outcomes among various racial/ethnic

Objective

To determine the incidence and risk factors associated with stillbirth in Asian-American women.

Study design

We conducted this retrospective cohort study using the United States Birth and Fetal Death data files 2014–2017. We used the fetuses‐at‐risk approach to generate stillbirth trends by gestational age among Non-Hispanic (NH)-White and Asian-American births during the study period. We calculated the adjusted risk of stillbirth for Asian-Americans, overall, and for each Asian-American subgroup: Asian Indians, Koreans, Chinese, Vietnamese, Japanese and Filipinos, with NH-Whites as the referent category.

Results

Of the 715,297 births that occurred among Asian-Americans during the study period, stillbirth incidence rate was 3.86 per 1000 births. From the gestational age of 20 weeks through 41 weeks, the stillbirth rates were consistently lower among Asian-Americans compared to NH-Whites. Stillbirth incidence ranged from a low rate of 2.6 per 1000 births in Koreans to as high as 5.3 per 1000 births in Filipinos. After adjusting for potentially confounding characteristics, Asian-Americans were about half as likely to experience stillbirth compared to NH-White mothers [adjusted hazards ratio (AHR) = 0.57, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.51–0.64]. This intrauterine survival advantage was evident in all Asian-American subgroups.

Conclusion

The risk of stillbirth is twofold lower in Asian-Americans than in NH-Whites. It will be an important research agenda to determine reasons for the improved intrauterine survival among Asian-Americans in order to uncover clues for reducing the burden of stillbirth among other racial/ethnic minority women in the United States.

Keywords:

• Asian-American
• Asians
• stillbirth
• racial disparity
• birth outcomes

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflict of interest.