Research

ANA Research Funds

One of ANA's primary goals is to raise money for stillbirth research. In 2002 ANA earmarked five percent of its income for research. However, although nearly 30,000 babies are stillborn each year, research to investigate its cause(s) is scant.

ANA distributed its first stillbirth research grant in February 2008! The grant supports the work of Dr. Katherine Gold at the University of MI. Dr. Gold, a bereaved parent, physician and researcher, is investigating the medical management of stillbirth and possible etiologies of stillbirth. For more information about the grant and Dr. Gold's research, read the fall/winter 2007 issue of ANA Happenings. Dr. Gold's research has continued into 2009 and she hopes to report the findings by year's end.

An Understudied Problem

According to the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), the number of reported deaths from stillbirth equals that of all infant deaths combined . Despite these statistics, stillbirth remains understudied.

In a November 13, 2003 article in The National Post, Brad Evenson reports that between 1997 and 2001, the US National Institute of Health awarded $50 million, or $3,900 per affected child, in research grants for SIDS. In contrast, it gave $442,000, or $3.32 per stillborn infant, in grants for stillbirth research. The reasons for this disparity are not well understood.

Further complicating our ability to understand stillbirth is the lack of consistent reporting and autopsy protocols. The NICHD reports that the criteria for reporting stillbirth varies from state to state, and fetal death certificates are not always issued. A new NICHD effort to determine the extent and causes of stillbirth attempts to address these issues through its Stillbirth Research Collaborative Network, which will collect and analyze stillbirth statistics over a five-year period. For more information about this research, please visit www.nih.gov.