MELBOURNE, June 26 (Xinhua) -- South Asian women giving birth in Australia are more likely to experience stillbirth, said a study published on Monday.
The study, done by the Hudson Institute of Medical Research (HIMR) in collaboration with Monash University, analyzed more than 700,000 births in Victoria between 2000 and 2011.
Of those studied there were 2,299 cases of stillbirth, representing less than 0.5 percent, where stillbirth was defined as foetal death at, or after, 20 weeks of pregnancy.
Miranda Davies-Tuck, lead researcher from HIMR, said her team found that women from South Asian countries giving birth were 27 percent more likely to experience stillbirth than women from Australia.
She said the study should act as a warning for pregnant South Asian women to undergo surveillance for risks earlier than previously recommended.
"We saw that the risk of stillbirth for a South Asian mother at 39 weeks was equivalent to an Australian-born mother at 41 weeks and that's when we would normally start to offer intervention because of the risk," Davies-Tuck told Australian media on Monday.
"We really need to make sure that we're tailoring care to all women who are giving birth in Australian hospitals.
"So, it's becoming more of a problem, and more of something we need to consider. There's really no reason why women accessing universal free public healthcare in Australia should have different stillbirth rates."
Researchers also found that the rate of stillbirth in African and Middle Eastern-born women was five in 1, 000 compared to just three in 1,000 for women born in Australia and New Zealand.
