Geospatial distribution of stillbirth in relation to socioeconomic estimators during the period 2014-2020 in Puerto Madryn, Patagonia Argentina

Abstract

Background: Our objective was to determine the frequency of fetal deaths (FD) in a local hospital of Puerto Madryn. And explore the use of geo-referenced data in relation to socioeconomic indicators as a predictor of hospitalizations due to stillbirth. Methods: Cross-sectional study that analyzed all FD at the “Dr. Andrés Isola”, during the period 2014-2020. From the collected hospital dataset, we examined the following variables: absolute number of FD and absolute number of live births, home address of hospitalized mothers and socioeconomic indicators. Each mother´s home address was translated into geo-referenced data (latitude and longitude) to accurately locate cases on a city map. In addition, data from the National Institute of Statistics and Census (2010) to geographically code households according to the presence/absence of unsatisfied basic needs (UBN) were used as an indicator of overcrowding. Results: The occurrence of 41 FD was observed from January 2014 to December 2020, out of a total of 4215 live births. The Fetal Mortality Rate (FMR) was 5.9 (2014), 6.1 (2015) 22.1 (2016), 5.3 (2017), 10.2 (2018), 3.33 (2019) and 16.2 (2020) (see Table 1). Of the 37 FD, 33 mothers (89.1%) live in areas identified as having UBN (categorized as overcrowded housing). Conclusions: We found that a high proportion of mothers hospitalized for FD in Puerto Madryn during the period 2014-2020 lived in neighbourhoods corresponding to homes with UBN. A marked increase in FMR was observed during the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic.