Blacks Have a Greater Risk of Stillbirth Than Whites Following a Cesarean, and Higher Stillbirth Recurrence

Women whose previous delivery had been by cesarean had a rate of stillbirth in their subsequent pregnancy similar to that of women who had had a vaginal delivery, according to a longitudinal study of Missouri births.1 However, black women had a higher rate of stillbirth than white women, and blacks who had had a cesarean were more likely to have a stillbirth than were blacks who had delivered vaginally. A second study by the same team of researchers using the same data found that the rate of stillbirth in the second pregnancy was higher for those who had had a stillbirth than for those who had not.2 Blacks experienced a higher rate of recurrence of stillbirth than whites.