Trends in Familial Susceptibility to Perinatal Loss

Abstract

This is a description of the changes occurring between 1936 and 1951 in the fetal, neonatal, and perinatal mortality rates of offspring of multiparous women by history of previous child loss. The mothers of the 1951 births had experienced a previous child loss rate of 68/1000 total births, compared to a rate of 125 in the 1936 group. In 1936 the expectation of perinatal loss among women with a history of previous child loss was 2.2 times greater than among multiparous women without such loss; in 1951 this expectation was 2.7 times as great. Order of birth and age of mother were studied in relation to history of previous child loss. They were found to play a relatively small part in differences in trends of perinatal mortality, and previous child loss in itself was the major factor in determining the expectation of future perinatal loss.