Local facilities
Following diagnosis of IUFD, 8 (17.4%) institutions usually admit the
woman to hospital for induction of labour (IOL) straight after
diagnosis. 12 (26.1%) departments usually admit the woman on the
following day, 3 (6.5%) on the following day or the day after and 4
(8.7%) departments would admit the woman after two days, as long as the
woman is clinically stable. 19 (41.3%) institutions would place the
decision regarding time of admission upon the woman’s preferences.
Interestingly, those institutions who kept the woman hospitalised
straight after diagnosis of fetal death were more likely to perform
maternal tests to rule out bleeding disorders, such as thrombophilia
(p =0.03) and a Kleihauer test (p =0.049), yet also replied
they considered a lack of a national guideline regarding post-mortem
work-up after IUFD in Austria (p =0.026).
All but one institution offer professional psychological support to
affected parents whilst hospitalised and 9 (19.6%) departments also
arrange psychological follow-up consultations as an out-patient.
In 21 (45.7%) participating institutions, a local pathology department
is on site, whilst the majority of participating hospitals (n=25;
54.3%) have none. Presence of a local pathology was found to be
strongly correlated with the type of the institution (p =0.003)
and therefore also annual live birth rates (p =0.039). Furthermore
institutions with an integrated department of pathology would perform
more often fetal genetic tests after IUFD (p =0.017).