Intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy (ICP) is a liver disorder of pregnancy. Affected patients experience itching, and it is diagnosed by measuring high bile acids in the mother’s blood.
When the mother’s bile acid levels are very high (more than 100μmol/L), there is a 10-fold higher risk of stillbirth for the baby – with 3 in every 100 babies being stillborn. There is no other way to predict which babies are at higher risk of stillbirth in ICP.
In this study, we aim to work out whether the timing of the increase in bile acids in the mother’s blood affects the risk of stillbirth.
