ArticlePloS one2018
The impact of young maternal age at birth on neonatal mortality: Evidence from 45 low and middle income countries.
Article in PloS one, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 81 papers.
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Who cites it
81 citing papers in PubMed.
- Effect of nutrition counseling on nutritional status and gestational weight gain of pregnant adolescents in West Arsi, Central Ethiopia: a cluster randomized controlled trial.Scientific reports · 2024Trial
- Influence of maternal age on birth and infant outcomes at 6 months: a cohort study with quantitative bias analysis.International journal of epidemiology · 2023Trial
- Direct and Indirect Effects of Adolescent Motherhood on Under-Five Mortality in Pakistan: Evidence From a Nationally Representative Survey.American journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council · 2026Article
- Maternal Mortality, Adolescent Fertility, and Immunization as Drivers of Under-Five Mortality: A 187-Country Panel, 1992-2023.Journal of paediatrics and child health · 2026Article
- Parity-Related Differences in Neonatal Outcomes Among Adolescent Mothers: A Retrospective Cohort Study.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- A machine learning approach to identify key socio-economic and demographic factors associated with neonatal mortality in Ethiopia.BMC public health · 2026Article
- Application of Machine Learning Algorithms for Predicting Infant Mortality in India: An Analysis of the National Family Health Survey-5, 2019-2021.Healthcare informatics research · 2026Article
- Heterogeneous income gradients in early motherhood in Mexico: a population-based multi-method study, 2000-2020.International journal for equity in health · 2026Article
- Trends and Sociodemographic Differentials in Neonatal, Infant, and Under-5 Mortality in Bangladesh, 1993-2022.Public health challenges · 2026Article
- Factors associated with time to first marriage among women in Somalia: a Weibull survival analysis.Reproductive health · 2026Article
- Decomposition analysis and spatial change of age disparities in antenatal care utilisation among women with high-risk pregnancies in Nigeria.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2026Article
- Survival analysis of under-five mortality predictors: evidence from the 2011 and 2022/23 mozambique demographic and health surveys.BMC public health · 2026Article
- Prevalence of teenage pregnancy and its associated factors among adolescent girls in Ghana.The Journal of the Egyptian Public Health Association · 2026Article
- Article
- Differential Effects of Gynecological and Chronological Age on Low Birth Weight and Small for Gestational Age.Biomedicines · 2025Article
- The role of social networks in motivating access and use of contraceptives among adolescent girls and young women living in resource-constrained settings in Cape Town, South Africa.Reproductive health · 2025Article
- Periodontal diseases among pregnant adolescents and young women in Nigeria: a scoping review.BMC oral health · 2025Article
- Live births and deaths of neonates born to adolescent mothers: analysis of trends and associations from a population study in a region of a middle-income country.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2025Article
- Mortality rates in a cohort of infants attending immunization clinics in Uganda (2017-2019).PloS one · 2025Observational
- Development and validation of an epidemiological risk score for neonatal death in a middle-income country.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
21 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesThis study explores the impact of early motherhood on neonatal mortality, and how this differs between countries and regions. It assesses whether the risk of neonatal mortality is greater for younger adolescent mothers compared with mothers in later adolescence, and explores if differences reflect confounding socio-economic and health care utilisation factors. It also examines how the risks differ for first or subsequent pregnancies.
methodsThe analysis uses 64 Demographic and Health Surveys collected between 2005 and 2015 from 45 countries to explore the relationship between adolescent motherhood (disaggregated as <16 years, 16/17 years and 18/19 years) and neonatal mortality. Both unadjusted bivariate association and logistic regression are used. Regional level multivariate models that adjust for a range of socio-economic, demographic and health service utilisation variables are estimated. Further stratified models are created to examine the excess risk for first and subsequent births separately.
findingsThe risk of neonatal mortality in all regions was markedly greater for infants with mothers under 16 years old, although there was marked heterogeneity in patterns between regions. Adjusting for socio-economic, demographic and health service utilisation variables did not markedly change the odds ratios associated with age. The increased risks associated with adolescent motherhood are lowest for first births.
conclusionOur findings particularly highlight the importance of reducing adolescent births among the youngest age group as a strategy for addressing the problem of neonatal mortality, as well ensuring pregnant adolescents have access to quality maternal health services to protect the health of both themselves and their infants. The regional differences in increased risk are a novel finding which requires more exploration.
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