Objective:

To describe the characteristics of fetal death cases reported between 2017 and 2021 in a public hospital in Peru.

Methods:

Descriptive and cross-sectional study, which was conducted in confirmed cases of fetal death in mothers with gestational age greater than 22 weeks presented at the Vitarte Hospital in Lima, Peru. The sample consisted of 137 cases during the period from 2017 to 2021. Frequencies and percentages were presented.

Results:

Fetal death had a rate of 14,8 per 1000 live births. Most of the women were between 20 and 24 years old (27%), in addition, 70,1% were cohabiting, 92% were housewives and 83,2% studied up to high school. On the other hand, 50,4% were multigestational and 29,9% had a history of abortion and 16,7% had a history of cesarean section. Prenatal service attendance was the most frequent (67,2%) and 29,2% were overweight. Regarding maternal pathologies, 38% had urinary tract infection, 17,5% had preeclampsia without signs of safety and 2,9% had gestational diabetes. Congenital malformations were present in 19 % of cases; in addition, 23,4% of fetal deaths had a maternal cause.

Conclusions:

The rate of fetal death is high. The cases were characterized mostly by mothers with qualities of social vulnerability, in addition to presenting characteristics of higher obstetric risk. Maternal causes of fetal death were the most frequent.