Women who have experienced the devastation of a stillbirth have a significantly increased risk of experiencing another one in a subsequent pregnancy, the results of a new study indicate.

According to the findings, they are up to four times more likely to experience a stillbirth again compared to women who had a live birth previously.

A stillbirth refers to a baby who has died in the womb. Around 360 stillbirths occur in Ireland every year. While different countries give different timeframes to define a stillbirth, for the purpose of this study, a stillbirth was defined as a baby who had died in the womb after 20 weeks' gestation. (Prior to this, it is considered a miscarriage.)

"Stillbirth is one of the most common adverse obstetric outcomes and a traumatic experience for parents. Couples who have experienced a stillbirth need to understand why it happened and want to know the risk for future pregnancies," the researchers from the University of Aberdeen in Scotland said.

However, there is little information available on how to improve the prevention of stillbirths, so they carried out a major review to assess any links between stillbirths in an initial pregnancy and the risk in a subsequent pregnancy.

They analysed 16 studies from high-income countries, including Scotland, Norway, Sweden, Australia and the US. Data was collected on over 3.4 million women who had given birth.

While only a small number of women experienced a stillbirth, the researchers found that when factors such as age and smoking were taken into account, those who had experienced this traumatic event were up to four times more likely to experience another stillbirth in a subsequent pregnancy.

This risk is higher than the risk of stillbirth associated with conditions such as high blood pressure and diabetes.

The researchers said that if a woman has suffered a stillbirth and becomes pregnant again, the pregnancy should be very closely monitored, with interventions offered ‘at the first sign of increased risk of distress or danger'.

They also believe that pre-pregnancy counselling should be offered to women who have experienced a stillbirth, but want to get pregnant again, so that they can be advised about the importance of lifestyle issues such as obesity and smoking, both of which have been linked to an increased risk of stillbirth.

Details of these findings are published in the British Medical Journal.