Stillbirth Can Genetically Mutate Through Male Genes, Research Suggests

Stillbirth is the mortality or death of a baby either before or during childbirth. Although miscarriage and stillbirth are terms used to describe pregnancy loss, they differ depending on when the loss happens. Mostly in U. S., a miscarriage is defined as the absence of a baby even before 20 weeks of pregnancy while stillbirth is defined as the death of a baby at or following the 20-week mark of pregnancy, as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.

Stillbirth is further characterized as early, late, or term. A premature stillbirth is a neonatal death that occurs between the 20th and 27th week of pregnancy. A late stillbirth happens between weeks 28 and 36 of pregnancy. Stillbirth happens after 37 weeks of pregnancy.

A stillbirth is a sad event for parents, but the specific cause is unknown. Certain health issues throughout a pregnant woman could play a role, but a recent study has revealed an unexpected discovery: the stillbirth problem is likely to be passed through male family members on either side.

"Stillbirth is one of those problems that is so terrible and life-changing," said research co-author Dr. Jessica Page, an assistant professor in the department of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Utah Health and Intermountain Healthcare. "It's incredibly frustrating whenever you lack a strong explanation for why this develops," Page declared in a department news release.

The Stillbirth Study Process

The scientists examined 9,404 stillbirths as well as 18,808 live births throughout Utah between 1978 and 2019. The cases were included in the Utah Population Registry, a genealogy resource related to health, birth, and death information.

A study revealed that 390 families might have an abnormally high rate of stillbirths throughout numerous generations, indicating that stillbirth might have hereditary explanations.

The researchers next examined the frequency of stillbirth between first-, second-, and third-degree relations of newborns from afflicted families compared to similar relatives from unaffected households. Based on the study, their data found that an elevated risk of stillbirth was handed down across male ancestors, a previously unknown occurrence, as reported by Health Day.

"We were capable of evaluating intergenerational patterns in stillbirth, as well as paternal and maternal lineages, to boost our potential to detect a family aggregation of stillbirth," explained Tsegaselassie Workalemahu, additionally from the University of Utah Health's department of obstetrics and gynecology.

Directly Above Shot Of T-Shirt On Bed - stock photo — A new study from the University of Utah suggests that stillbirth can be genetically mutated from male genes. Natdanai Pankong / EyeEm via Getty Images

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Prior Research Lack Sufficient Data

"Due to insufficient data, few researchers have studied underlying genetic risk for stillbirth," he explained in the press statement. "The Utah Population Database [UPDB] enables greater thorough examination than was previously feasible."

Finding genetic mutations that increase the probability of stillbirth seems to be an essential next phase that might lead to improved prevention and diagnosis in the future. Understanding family patterns may assist healthcare practitioners counsel parents about the potential risk, thus according to Workalemahu. The results were just recently published in the journal BJOG.

"Understanding pregnancy gives the possibility of improving the health and quality of life," he noted. Stillbirth seems to be more widespread in the United States than most other people know, occurring in 1 in 165 deliveries of infants aged 20 weeks or later. One in every three occurrences of stillbirth is unexplainable. Other determinants include having high blood pressure throughout delivery, preeclampsia, as well as diabetes in the female, according to US News.

The study results drawbacks have included a lack of variety since the dataset population was predominantly of northern European ancestry. "Stillbirth percentage decrease has so far been modest in the United States, and we believe numerous stillbirths are theoretically avoidable," Page remarked. "This would encourage us to hunt for all of those genetic characteristics so we may accomplish greater significant rate reductions," Dr. Page stated.