Hi ladies,

I just wanted to clarify something - someone had said earlier that the risk of stillbirth declines after 42 weeks. Actually, this is not true - the risk of stillbirth actually INCREASES again after 40 weeks. I've added some comments to the figures to help with the interpretation. Basically, the lower the ratio number, the higher the risk (and vice versa). So the risk is actually highest at 35 weeks, and decreases until 40 weeks, at which point it begins to increase again. So this is, in fact, another study pointing to the increases in risk that come with going past 40 weeks.

Hope that helps!


35 weeks is 1:500 *** highest risk of stillbirth
36 weeks is 1:556 * risk begins to decrease
37 weeks is 1:645
38 weeks is 1:730
39 weeks is 1:840
40 weeks is 1:926 *** lowest risk of stillbirth
41 weeks is 1:826 * risk begins to increase again
42 weeks is 1:769
43 weeks is 1:633 *risk is about the same as at 37 weeks