ReviewBulletin of the World Health Organization2023
Stillbirth undercount in the sample registration system and national family health survey, India.
Review in Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 27 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
27 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Burden, Differentials and Causes of Stillbirths in India: A Systematic Review and Meta Analysis.Indian journal of pediatrics · 2023Pooled it
- Stillbirths at 22- and 28-weeks' gestation or longer for the states in India: findings from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2023.The Lancet regional health. Southeast Asia · 2026Article
- Beyond Counting Deaths: Why India must Strengthen Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Systems for Equitable Health Governance.Indian journal of community medicine : official publication of Indian Association of Preventive & Social Medicine · 2026Article
- Compartment-specific soluble immune profiles associated with preterm birth, perinatal death, and low birthweight in pregnant individuals living with HIV.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- National, state and district-level estimates of stillbirth in India at 20 weeks' gestation or longer using national family health survey data (2005-21).The Lancet regional health. Southeast Asia · 2026Article
- Counting what matters: stillbirth estimates before 28 weeks of gestation in India.The Lancet regional health. Southeast Asia · 2026Article
- Late gestation stillbirth epidemiology: findings from a nationally representative mortality survey of one million population sample in India.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2026Article
- Temperature extremes and stillbirth risk in Bihar, India: a panel data analysis, 2009-2019.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2026Article
- Article
- Reproductive Outcomes and Fertility Patterns in Women with Systemic Sclerosis: A Multicentre Observational Study.Mediterranean journal of rheumatology · 2025Article
- Article
- Disease and economic burden of stillbirths in India in 2019.Indian pediatrics · 2025Article
- Article
- Article
- Impact of systemic lupus erythematosus on the reproductive health of women before and after disease onset: an observational study.Rheumatology international · 2025Observational
- Hindi translation and validation of perinatal grief scale (short version): Assessing grief following stillbirth in bereaved mothers.Indian journal of psychiatry · 2025Article
- Turning the tide with better data to address stillbirths in India.The Lancet regional health. Southeast Asia · 2025Article
- Review
- Pre‑partum blood leukocyte profiles distinguish gestational inflammatory stages that predict birth‑related adverse outcomes.Frontiers in immunology · 2025Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Objective: To assess the extent of under-reporting of stillbirths in India by comparing stillbirth and neonatal mortality rates from two national data sources and to review possible reasons for undercounting of stillbirths. Methods: We extracted data on stillbirth and neonatal mortality rates from the annual reports for 2016-2020 of the sample registration system, the Indian government's main source of vital statistics. We compared the data with estimates of stillbirth and neonatal mortality rates from the fifth round of the Indian national family health survey covering events from 2016-2021. We reviewed the questionnaires and manuals from both surveys and compared the sample registration system's verbal autopsy tool with other international tools. Findings: The stillbirth rate for India from the national family health survey (9.7 stillbirths per 1000 births; 95% confidence interval: 9.2-10.1) was 2.6 times higher than the average rate reported in the sample registration system over 2016-2020 (3.8 stillbirths per 1000 births). However, neonatal mortality rates in the two data sources were similar. We identified issues with the definition of stillbirth, documentation of gestation period, and categorization of miscarriages and abortions that could result in undercounting stillbirths in the sample registration system. In the national family health survey only one adverse pregnancy outcome is documented, irrespective of the number of adverse pregnancy outcomes in the given period. Conclusion: For India to attain its 2030 target of single-digit stillbirth rate and to monitor actions to end preventable stillbirths, efforts are needed to improve the documentation of stillbirths in its data collection systems.
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