An audit of autopsy-confirmed diagnostic errors in perinatal deaths: What are the most common major missed diagnoses.

ABSTRACT: Perinatal autopsies are essential to establish the cause of stillbirth or neonatal death and improve clinical practice. Limited studies have provided detailed major missed diagnoses of perinatal deaths in current clinical practice. In this retrospective audit of 177 perinatal autopsies including 99 stillbirths and 78 neonatal deaths with complete pathologic evaluation, 66 cases (21 Class I and 45 Class II diagnostic errors) were revealed as major discrepancies (37.3%), with complete agreements in 80 cases (45.2%). The difference in major discrepancies between stillbirth and neonatal death groups was significant (P < 0.001), with neonatal deaths being more prone to Class I errors. Various respiratory diseases (25/66, 37.9%) and congenital malformations (16/66, 24.2%) accounted for th

SUBMITTER: Xu Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10559671 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature