Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40032517›Full record

ArticleBMJ global health2025

Maternal anaemia and risk of neonatal and infant mortality in low- and middle-income countries: a secondary analysis of 45 national datasets.

Eleni Tsamantioti, Tobias Alfvén, Muhammad Zakir Hossin, Neda Razaz

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Article in BMJ global health, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.

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4citing papers in PubMed
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1 · What the graph read from it

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3 · Its place in the literature

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4 citing papers in PubMed.

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4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Eleni TsamantiotiClinical Epidemiology Division, Department of Medicine Solna, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden eleni.tsamantioti@ki.se.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5534-559X
Tobias AlfvénDepartment of Global Public Health, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
Muhammad Zakir HossinClinical Epidemiology Division, Department of Medicine Solna, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9078-419X
Neda RazazClinical Epidemiology Division, Department of Medicine Solna, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1273-0110

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundAnaemia in pregnancy has been recognised worldwide as a growing public health concern and an important cause of adverse neonatal outcomes. However, only a limited number of studies have been done in low-income settings, which have the highest prevalence of anaemia. We aimed to investigate the association between maternal anaemia and neonatal and infant mortality in low- and middle-income countries.

methodsSecondary analysis of pooled data from 45 national demographic and health surveys (2010-2020). We included all women between 15 and 49 years old, who had singleton live birth within 1 year preceding the survey, with a valid maternal measurement of haemoglobin. We used logistic regression models to estimate the crude and adjusted OR (aOR) with 95% CIs of the association between maternal anaemia (measured at the time of the survey) and the risk of neonatal and infant mortality.

resultsAmong 106 143 women included in our analysis, there were 53 348 (50.5%) women with no anaemia, 24 670 (23.2%) with mild anaemia, 25 937 (24.3%) with moderate anaemia and 2188 (2.0%) with severe anaemia. Overall, there were 2668 (2.5%) neonatal and 3756 (3.5%) infant deaths. Moderate (aOR 1.20; 95% CI 1.06 to 1.35) and severe (aOR 1.89; 95% CI 1.46 to 2.44) maternal anaemia were associated with increased odds of neonatal mortality, respectively. Similar estimates were observed for moderate and severe anaemia and infant mortality. No increased risk was noted for mild anaemia.

interpretationModerate and severe maternal anaemia in low- and middle-income settings are associated with increased risks of neonatal and infant mortality. Future research should examine how targeted interventions for prepregnancy and antenatal treatment of anaemia in reproductive-age women can enhance maternal and child health in low- and middle-income settings.

Indexed as

AnemiaDeveloping CountriesInfant MortalityPregnancy Complications, HematologicAdolescentAdultFemaleHealth SurveysHumansInfantInfant, NewbornMiddle AgedPregnancyRisk FactorsYoung AdultAnaemiaChild healthCross-sectional surveyGlobal Health

Identifiers

PMID40032517
PMCPMC11877194

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