Deaths and disability from maternal and newborn disorders have dropped worldwide over the past three decades, according to a recent global analysis published in The Journal of Maternal-Fetal & Neonatal Medicine.
Even so, more people are living with these conditions, and the heaviest burden still falls on the world’s poorest regions.
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Researchers in China analyzed data from the Global Burden of Disease Study, a large international research effort that estimates how diseases and injuries affect health worldwide. They looked at data from 204 countries and territories between 1990 and 2021, tracking how many people were living with maternal and neonatal disorders, how many new cases occurred and how many deaths and years of healthy life were lost. The disorders included high blood pressure in pregnancy, severe bleeding after childbirth, preterm birth complications, newborn infections and birth defects.
Although the study did not review the disorders directly, fetal and neonatal alloimmune thrombocytopenia (FNAIT) is among the causes of newborn complications.
Worldwide, the death rate from these conditions fell from about 52 to 32 per 100,000 people between 1990 and 2021. Over the same period, the share of people living with these conditions or their lasting health effects rose by about 15%.
The researchers linked this shift in part to medical progress. Improved newborn intensive care now helps more preterm and low-birth-weight babies survive, but some go on to live with long-term lung, vision or developmental problems. Better screening also detects more cases, while older age at pregnancy and rising rates of obesity and diabetes put more women at risk of complications.
The authors described the pattern as “a multi-causal phenomenon rather than a simple paradox,” meaning several factors are working together rather than the numbers contradicting each other.
Learn more about FNAIT causes and risk factors
These achievements have not been distributed equally. In the least developed regions, as measured by the Socio-Demographic Index, a score that combines income, education and birth rates, death and disability rates were more than 10 times higher than in the most developed. Sub-Saharan Africa had the highest death rates, which the authors linked to shortages of skilled birth attendants, emergency obstetric care and essential medicines.
The burden also differed by sex and age. Boys under 5 had the highest rate of new cases, a pattern the researchers linked to young boys’ greater biological susceptibility to infections. In women, rates peaked between ages 20 and 34, reflecting the health risks tied to the reproductive years.
The team projected that death rates will keep falling through 2031 while the share of people living with these conditions will keep rising. The authors cautioned that these forecasts assume past trends continue.
For low-resource settings, the researchers called for stronger primary care, more training for midwives and other health workers, better referral systems and financial support so families can afford care. In wealthier countries, they said, the focus should shift toward managing the long-term effects of these conditions.
