Introduction: Accumulating evidence has shown an association between maternal supine going-to-sleep position and stillbirth in late pregnancy. Advising women not to go-to-sleep on their back can potentially reduce late stillbirth rate by 9%. However, the association between maternal right-sided going-to-sleep position and stillbirth is inconsistent across studies. Furthermore, individual studies are underpowered to investigate interactions between maternal going-to-sleep position and fetal vulnerability, which is potentially important for producing clear and tailored public health messages on safe going-to-sleep position. We will use individual participant data (IPD) from existing studies to assess whether right-side and supine going-to-sleep positions are independent risk factors for late stillbirth and to test the interaction between going-to-sleep position and fetal vulnerability.
Methods and analysis: An IPD meta-analysis approach will be used using the Cochrane Collaboration-endorsed methodology. We will identify case-control and prospective cohort studies and randomised trials which collected maternal going-to-sleep position data and pregnancy outcome data that included stillbirth. The primary outcome is stillbirth. A one stage procedure meta-analysis, stratified by study with adjustment of a priori confounders will be carried out.
Ethics and dissemination: The IPD meta-analysis has obtained central ethics approval from the New Zealand Health and Disability Ethics Committee, ref: NTX/06/05/054/AM06. Individual studies should also have ethical approval from relevant local ethics committees. Interpretation of the results will be discussed with consumer representatives. Results of the study will be published in peer-reviewed journals and presented at international conferences.
Prospero registration number: CRD42017047703.
Keywords: fetal movement; individual participant data meta-analysis; sleep position; small for gestational age; stillbirth.
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