Explanatory Notes

Presented in this release are data on fetal deaths that occurred in 2005 and registered from January 2005 to March 2006. Statistics for this vital event were based on information obtained from the Fetal Death Certificates (Municipal Form No. 103-A) transmitted by the City/Municipal Civil Registrars to the Office of the Civil Registrar General - National Statistic Office for processing and archiving. No adjustments for underregistration were made in the analysis.

Fetal death refers to death prior to the complete expulsion or extraction of the product of conception from its mother, irrespective of the duration of pregnancy. The death is indicated by the fact that after such separation, the fetus neither breathe nor show any other evidence of life, such as beating of the heart, pulsation of the umbilical cord, or definite movement of the voluntary muscles.

Registered fetal deaths rise by 15.8 percent

Registered fetal deaths in 2005 increased by 15.8 percent to 10,351 from last year’s 8,935. This represented an average of 28 fetuses who died per day.

Occurrence of fetal deaths was highest in January with 1,415 or 13.7 percent of the total. March (1,306 or 12.6%) and February (1,131 or 10.9%) ranked second and third, respectively. Aggregate fetal deaths during the first three months of 2005 reached 3,852 (37.2 percent of the total), an 83.8- percent increase from 2004’s 2,096 (23.5 percent of the total)

Medically-attended fetal deaths is highest in NCR

Of the country’s 17 regions, the National Capital Region (NCR) posted the highest number of fetal deaths with of 2,550 or 24.6 percent of the total. Regions IV-A and VII ranked second and third with 1,681 and 1,264, respectively.

The Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, on the other hand, had the least with only 11 fetal deaths, eight of which were attended to by physicians.

Medically-attended fetal deaths or those attended to by physicians, nurses, and midwives numbered 8,216 or 79.4 percent of the total. In NCR, 94.0 percent of all fetal deaths were medically-attended.

Traditional birth attendants attended to 1,958 (18.9%) fetal deaths. Of this total, Region IV-A ranked first with 413 cases (21.1%).

Disorders related to short gestation and low birth weight lead causes of fetal deaths

Nearly three fourths (7,696 or 74.4 percent) of fetal deaths were due to the ten leading causes of fetal deaths in 2005. The remaining 25.6 percent were due to all other causes.

Disorders related to short gestation and low birth weight, not elsewhere classified were the leading causes of fetal deaths with 5,474 or 52.9 percent of the total. This category includes extremely low birth weight, other low birth weight, extremely immature, and other preterm infants. A far second was intrauterine hypoxia which contributed only 10.2 percent to the total.

Most fetal deaths are legitimate

Of the 10,351 fetal deaths 2005, 7,177 or 69.3 occurred to married couples. In other words, approximately seven out of ten dead fetuses were legitimate. The remaining 3,174 or 30.7 percent were considered illegitimate.

Median age of mothers with fetal death is 29 years

The median age of mothers who experienced fetal death in 2005 was 29 years. Mothers belonging to age group 25 to 29 years recorded a total of 2,487 fetal deaths or 24.0 percent of the total. In this age group, 25.2 percent of the fetal deaths were illegitimate. The least number of fetal deaths occurred to mothers aged 50 and over with only one case. Further, of the 13 fetal deaths that occurred to mothers below 15 years old, exactly two thirds (10 or 66.7 percent) were illegitimate.