Fetal death is an event with great affective repercussions for the parents and those close to them. Historically, for different reasons, in almost two thirds of cases it is not possible to determine the cause, leaving the health team unable to carry out adequate counseling in order to give parents sufficient peace of mind to face a next pregnancy. Numerous efforts have been made in recent decades to standardize stillbirth registration systems and their cause in order to propose effective health policies to prevent a future event. In this article, a narrative review is carried out on the risk factors and the advances in the diagnostic study of in utero fetal deaths.