Baseline demographic characteristics
In total, 46 (61.3%) obstetrical departments from 37 (80.4%) secondary
and 9 (19.6%) tertiary referral hospitals, respectively, participated
in this survey. The survey covered eight from nine Austrian federal
states [5 (10.9%) hospitals from the capital Vienna; 16 (34.8%) from
Lower Austria; 8 (17.4%) from Upper Austria; 6 (13.0%) from Tyrol; 4
(8.7%) from Styria; 3 (6.5%) from Vorarlberg; 2 (4.3%) from Salzburg
and 2 (4.3%) from Carinthia]. Annual live birth rate was ≤ 500 in 5
(10.9%) participating hospitals, 501-1000 in 18 (39.1%) hospitals,
1001-2000 in 14 (30.4%) hospitals and ≥ 2001 in 9 (19.6%) hospitals.
Type of hospital (secondary versus tertiary referral hospital)
significantly correlated with the presence of a local pathology
department on site (p =0.003) and the conduction of a post-mortem
fetal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI; p =0.016) in the
participating units.