Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Multicenter Study
. 2014 Sep 13;384(9947):980-1004.
doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(14)60696-6. Epub 2014 May 2.

Global, regional, and national levels and causes of maternal mortality during 1990-2013: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013

Nicholas J Kassebaum  1 Amelia Bertozzi-Villa  2 Megan S Coggeshall  2 Katya A Shackelford  2 Caitlyn Steiner  2 Kyle R Heuton  2 Diego Gonzalez-Medina  2 Ryan Barber  2 Chantal Huynh  2 Daniel Dicker  2 Tara Templin  2 Timothy M Wolock  2 Ayse Abbasoglu Ozgoren  3 Foad Abd-Allah  4 Semaw Ferede Abera  5 Ibrahim Abubakar  6 Tom Achoki  7 Ademola Adelekan  8 Zanfina Ademi  9 Arsène Kouablan Adou  10 José C Adsuar  11 Emilie E Agardh  12 Dickens Akena  13 Deena Alasfoor  14 Zewdie Aderaw Alemu  15 Rafael Alfonso-Cristancho  16 Samia Alhabib  17 Raghib Ali  18 Mazin J Al Kahbouri  14 François Alla  19 Peter J Allen  20 Mohammad A AlMazroa  21 Ubai Alsharif  22 Elena Alvarez  23 Nelson Alvis-Guzmán  24 Adansi A Amankwaa  25 Azmeraw T Amare  26 Hassan Amini  27 Walid Ammar  28 Carl A T Antonio  29 Palwasha Anwari  30 Johan Arnlöv  31 Valentina S Arsic Arsenijevic  32 Ali Artaman  33 Majed Masoud Asad  34 Rana J Asghar  35 Reza Assadi  36 Lydia S Atkins  37 Alaa Badawi  38 Kalpana Balakrishnan  39 Arindam Basu  40 Sanjay Basu  41 Justin Beardsley  42 Neeraj Bedi  43 Tolesa Bekele  44 Michelle L Bell  45 Eduardo Bernabe  46 Tariku J Beyene  47 Zulfiqar Bhutta  48 Aref Bin Abdulhak  49 Jed D Blore  9 Berrak Bora Basara  50 Dipan Bose  51 Nicholas Breitborde  52 Rosario Cárdenas  53 Carlos A Castañeda-Orjuela  54 Ruben Estanislao Castro  55 Ferrán Catalá-López  56 Alanur Cavlin  3 Jung-Chen Chang  57 Xuan Che  58 Costas A Christophi  59 Sumeet S Chugh  60 Massimo Cirillo  61 Samantha M Colquhoun  62 Leslie Trumbull Cooper  63 Cyrus Cooper  64 Iuri da Costa Leite  65 Lalit Dandona  66 Rakhi Dandona  67 Adrian Davis  68 Anand Dayama  69 Louisa Degenhardt  70 Diego De Leo  71 Borja del Pozo-Cruz  72 Kebede Deribe  47 Muluken Dessalegn  73 Gabrielle A deVeber  74 Samath D Dharmaratne  75 Uğur Dilmen  50 Eric L Ding  76 Rob E Dorrington  77 Tim R Driscoll  78 Sergei Petrovich Ermakov  79 Alireza Esteghamati  80 Emerito Jose A Faraon  29 Farshad Farzadfar  81 Manuela Mendonca Felicio  82 Seyed-Mohammad Fereshtehnejad  83 Graça Maria Ferreira de Lima  84 Mohammad H Forouzanfar  2 Elisabeth B França  85 Lynne Gaffikin  86 Ketevan Gambashidze  87 Fortuné Gbètoho Gankpé  88 Ana C Garcia  89 Johanna M Geleijnse  90 Katherine B Gibney  91 Maurice Giroud  92 Elizabeth L Glaser  93 Ketevan Goginashvili  94 Philimon Gona  95 Dinorah González-Castell  96 Atsushi Goto  97 Hebe N Gouda  98 Harish Chander Gugnani  99 Rahul Gupta  100 Rajeev Gupta  101 Nima Hafezi-Nejad  80 Randah Ribhi Hamadeh  102 Mouhanad Hammami  103 Graeme J Hankey  104 Hilda L Harb  28 Rasmus Havmoeller  83 Simon I Hay  18 Ileana B Heredia Pi  96 Hans W Hoek  105 H Dean Hosgood  106 Damian G Hoy  107 Abdullatif Husseini  108 Bulat T Idrisov  109 Kaire Innos  110 Manami Inoue  111 Kathryn H Jacobsen  112 Eiman Jahangir  113 Sun Ha Jee  114 Paul N Jensen  16 Vivekanand Jha  115 Guohong Jiang  116 Jost B Jonas  117 Knud Juel  118 Edmond Kato Kabagambe  119 Haidong Kan  120 Nadim E Karam  121 André Karch  122 Corine Kakizi Karema  123 Anil Kaul  124 Norito Kawakami  125 Konstantin Kazanjan  87 Dhruv S Kazi  126 Andrew H Kemp  127 Andre Pascal Kengne  128 Maia Kereselidze  87 Yousef Saleh Khader  129 Shams Eldin Ali Hassan Khalifa  130 Ejaz Ahmed Khan  131 Young-Ho Khang  132 Luke Knibbs  98 Yoshihiro Kokubo  133 Soewarta Kosen  134 Barthelemy Kuate Defo  135 Chanda Kulkarni  136 Veena S Kulkarni  137 G Anil Kumar  67 Kaushalendra Kumar  138 Ravi B Kumar  139 Gene Kwan  140 Taavi Lai  141 Ratilal Lalloo  142 Hilton Lam  143 Van C Lansingh  144 Anders Larsson  31 Jong-Tae Lee  145 James Leigh  146 Mall Leinsalu  110 Ricky Leung  147 Xiaohong Li  148 Yichong Li  149 Yongmei Li  150 Juan Liang  151 Xiaofeng Liang  152 Stephen S Lim  2 Hsien-Ho Lin  153 Steven E Lipshultz  154 Shiwei Liu  149 Yang Liu  155 Belinda K Lloyd  91 Stephanie J London  156 Paulo A Lotufo  127 Jixiang Ma  149 Stefan Ma  157 Vasco Manuel Pedro Machado  158 Nana Kwaku Mainoo  159 Marek Majdan  160 Christopher Chabila Mapoma  161 Wagner Marcenes  162 Melvin Barrientos Marzan  155 Amanda J Mason-Jones  163 Man Mohan Mehndiratta  164 Fabiola Mejia-Rodriguez  96 Ziad A Memish  21 Walter Mendoza  165 Ted R Miller  166 Edward J Mills  167 Ali H Mokdad  2 Glen Liddell Mola  168 Lorenzo Monasta  169 Jonathan de la Cruz Monis  170 Julio Cesar Montañez Hernandez  96 Ami R Moore  171 Maziar Moradi-Lakeh  172 Rintaro Mori  173 Ulrich O Mueller  174 Mitsuru Mukaigawara  175 Aliya Naheed  176 Kovin S Naidoo  177 Devina Nand  178 Vinay Nangia  179 Denis Nash  180 Chakib Nejjari  181 Robert G Nelson  182 Sudan Prasad Neupane  183 Charles R Newton  184 Marie Ng  2 Mark J Nieuwenhuijsen  185 Muhammad Imran Nisar  186 Sandra Nolte  22 Ole F Norheim  187 Luke Nyakarahuka  13 In-Hwan Oh  188 Takayoshi Ohkubo  189 Bolajoko O Olusanya  190 Saad B Omer  191 John Nelson Opio  192 Orish Ebere Orisakwe  193 Jeyaraj D Pandian  194 Christina Papachristou  22 Jae-Hyun Park  195 Angel J Paternina Caicedo  196 Scott B Patten  197 Vinod K Paul  198 Boris Igor Pavlin  199 Neil Pearce  200 David M Pereira  201 Konrad Pesudovs  202 Max Petzold  203 Dan Poenaru  204 Guilherme V Polanczyk  127 Suzanne Polinder  205 Dan Pope  206 Farshad Pourmalek  207 Dima Qato  208 D Alex Quistberg  16 Anwar Rafay  209 Kazem Rahimi  18 Vafa Rahimi-Movaghar  210 Sajjad ur Rahman  211 Murugesan Raju  212 Saleem M Rana  213 Amany Refaat  214 Luca Ronfani  169 Nobhojit Roy  215 Tania Georgina Sánchez Pimienta  96 Mohammad Ali Sahraian  216 Joshua A Salomon  217 Uchechukwu Sampson  119 Itamar S Santos  127 Monika Sawhney  218 Felix Sayinzoga  219 Ione J C Schneider  220 Austin Schumacher  2 David C Schwebel  221 Soraya Seedat  222 Sadaf G Sepanlou  223 Edson E Servan-Mori  96 Marina Shakh-Nazarova  87 Sara Sheikhbahaei  80 Kenji Shibuya  224 Hwashin Hyun Shin  225 Ivy Shiue  226 Inga Dora Sigfusdottir  227 Donald H Silberberg  228 Andrea P Silva  229 Jasvinder A Singh  221 Vegard Skirbekk  230 Karen Sliwa  231 Sergey S Soshnikov  232 Luciano A Sposato  233 Chandrashekhar T Sreeramareddy  234 Konstantinos Stroumpoulis  235 Lela Sturua  87 Bryan L Sykes  236 Karen M Tabb  237 Roberto Tchio Talongwa  238 Feng Tan  239 Carolina Maria Teixeira  82 Eric Yeboah Tenkorang  240 Abdullah Sulieman Terkawi  241 Andrew L Thorne-Lyman  242 David L Tirschwell  243 Jeffrey A Towbin  244 Bach X Tran  245 Miltiadis Tsilimbaris  246 Uche S Uchendu  247 Kingsley N Ukwaja  248 Eduardo A Undurraga  109 Selen Begüm Uzun  249 Andrew J Vallely  250 Coen H van Gool  251 Tommi J Vasankari  252 Monica S Vavilala  16 N Venketasubramanian  253 Salvador Villalpando  96 Francesco S Violante  254 Vasiliy Victorovich Vlassov  255 Theo Vos  2 Stephen Waller  256 Haidong Wang  2 Linhong Wang  149 XiaoRong Wang  257 Yanping Wang  151 Scott Weichenthal  225 Elisabete Weiderpass  258 Robert G Weintraub  259 Ronny Westerman  174 James D Wilkinson  260 Solomon Meseret Woldeyohannes  261 John Q Wong  262 Muluemebet Abera Wordofa  263 Gelin Xu  264 Yang C Yang  265 Yuichiro Yano  266 Gokalp Kadri Yentur  50 Paul Yip  267 Naohiro Yonemoto  268 Seok-Jun Yoon  145 Mustafa Z Younis  269 Chuanhua Yu  270 Kim Yun Jin  271 Maysaa El Sayed Zaki  272 Yong Zhao  273 Yingfeng Zheng  274 Maigeng Zhou  149 Jun Zhu  151 Xiao Nong Zou  275 Alan D Lopez  9 Mohsen Naghavi  2 Christopher J L Murray  2 Rafael Lozano  276
Affiliations
Multicenter Study

Global, regional, and national levels and causes of maternal mortality during 1990-2013: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013

Nicholas J Kassebaum et al. Lancet. .

Erratum in

  • Lancet. 2014 Sep 13;384(9947):956

Abstract

Background: The fifth Millennium Development Goal (MDG 5) established the goal of a 75% reduction in the maternal mortality ratio (MMR; number of maternal deaths per 100,000 livebirths) between 1990 and 2015. We aimed to measure levels and track trends in maternal mortality, the key causes contributing to maternal death, and timing of maternal death with respect to delivery.

Methods: We used robust statistical methods including the Cause of Death Ensemble model (CODEm) to analyse a database of data for 7065 site-years and estimate the number of maternal deaths from all causes in 188 countries between 1990 and 2013. We estimated the number of pregnancy-related deaths caused by HIV on the basis of a systematic review of the relative risk of dying during pregnancy for HIV-positive women compared with HIV-negative women. We also estimated the fraction of these deaths aggravated by pregnancy on the basis of a systematic review. To estimate the numbers of maternal deaths due to nine different causes, we identified 61 sources from a systematic review and 943 site-years of vital registration data. We also did a systematic review of reports about the timing of maternal death, identifying 142 sources to use in our analysis. We developed estimates for each country for 1990-2013 using Bayesian meta-regression. We estimated 95% uncertainty intervals (UIs) for all values.

Findings: 292,982 (95% UI 261,017-327,792) maternal deaths occurred in 2013, compared with 376,034 (343,483-407,574) in 1990. The global annual rate of change in the MMR was -0·3% (-1·1 to 0·6) from 1990 to 2003, and -2·7% (-3·9 to -1·5) from 2003 to 2013, with evidence of continued acceleration. MMRs reduced consistently in south, east, and southeast Asia between 1990 and 2013, but maternal deaths increased in much of sub-Saharan Africa during the 1990s. 2070 (1290-2866) maternal deaths were related to HIV in 2013, 0·4% (0·2-0·6) of the global total. MMR was highest in the oldest age groups in both 1990 and 2013. In 2013, most deaths occurred intrapartum or postpartum. Causes varied by region and between 1990 and 2013. We recorded substantial variation in the MMR by country in 2013, from 956·8 (685·1-1262·8) in South Sudan to 2·4 (1·6-3·6) in Iceland.

Interpretation: Global rates of change suggest that only 16 countries will achieve the MDG 5 target by 2015. Accelerated reductions since the Millennium Declaration in 2000 coincide with increased development assistance for maternal, newborn, and child health. Setting of targets and associated interventions for after 2015 will need careful consideration of regions that are making slow progress, such as west and central Africa.

Funding: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Definitions of maternal death
ICD-10=International Classification of Diseases, version 10. *During labour and up to 24 h after delivery. †Between 24 h and 6 weeks after delivery. ‡Between 6 weeks and 1 year after delivery.
Figure 2
Figure 2. Forest plot of the relative risk of death during pregnancy for women with HIV infection compared with women without HIV infection
Weights are from random effects analysis. Size of the triangles is proportional to the weighting of each study in the meta-analysis. UI=uncertainty interval.
Figure 3
Figure 3. Global maternal deaths (A) and annualised rate of change in maternal mortality ratio (B), 1990–2013
Shaded areas show 95% uncertainty intervals.
Figure 4
Figure 4. Global maternal mortality ratio in 1990 and 2013, by age
Shaded areas show 95% uncertainty intervals.
Figure 5
Figure 5. Change in MMR between 1990 and 2013, by region
MMR=maternal mortality ratio.
Figure 6
Figure 6. Causes of maternal death
(A) Mean proportion (left) and total number (right) of maternal deaths due to different causes in 1990 and 2013. Error bars show 95% uncertainty intervals. (B) Proportion of maternal deaths due to different causes in 2013, by region.
Figure 7
Figure 7. Maternal mortality ratio in 2013
ATG=Antigua and Barbuda. VCT=Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Isl=Islands. FSM=Federated States of Micronesia. LCA=Saint Lucia. TTO=Trinidad and Tobago. TLS=Timor-Leste.
Figure 8
Figure 8. Annualised rate of change in maternal mortality ratio in 1990–2003 and 2003–13
Countries are grouped by Global Burden of Disease super-region. Countries are labelled when at or near the MDG5 achievement rate, or if they had large increases in either period. MDG=Millennium Development Goal. RO U=Romania. POL=Poland. MDV=Maldives. MAR=Morocco. ALB=Albania. CZE=Czech Republic. ARE=United Arab Emirates. EST=Estonia. LBN=Lebanon. LVA=Latvia. CHN=China. LTU=Lithuania. HUN=Hungary. SLV=El Salvador. BLR=Belarus. GRC=Greece. RWA=Rwanda. KHM=Cambodia. BLZ=Belize. AFG=Afghanistan. MWI=Malawi. KEN=Kenya. NAM=Namibia. THA=Thailand. SWZ=Swaziland. ZAF=South Africa. LSO=Lesotho. ZWE=Zimbabwe. BWA=Botswana.
Figure 9
Figure 9. Projected maternal mortality ratio in 2030
ATG=Antigua and Barbuda. VCT=Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Isl=Islands. FSM=Federated States of Micronesia. LCA=Saint Lucia. TTO=Trinidad and Tobago. TLS=Timor-Leste.
Figure 10
Figure 10. Comparison of all-cause reproductive-age mortality envelopes between 1990 and 2010
WPP=World Population Prospects. GBD=Global Burden of Disease Study.

Comment in

  • Counting what counts for maternal mortality.
    Graham WJ, Witter S. Graham WJ, et al. Lancet. 2014 Sep 13;384(9947):933-5. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(14)61604-4. Lancet. 2014. PMID: 25220960 No abstract available.
  • Maternal mortality estimates.
    Donati S. Donati S. Lancet. 2014 Dec 20;384(9961):2210. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(14)62422-3. Epub 2014 Dec 19. Lancet. 2014. PMID: 25625394 No abstract available.
  • Maternal mortality estimates.
    Vrachnis N, Vlachadis N. Vrachnis N, et al. Lancet. 2014 Dec 20;384(9961):2210. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(14)62423-5. Epub 2014 Dec 19. Lancet. 2014. PMID: 25625395 No abstract available.
  • Maternal mortality estimates.
    Gerland P, Masquelier B, Helleringer S, Hogan D, Mathers CD. Gerland P, et al. Lancet. 2014 Dec 20;384(9961):2211. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(14)62424-7. Epub 2014 Dec 19. Lancet. 2014. PMID: 25625396 No abstract available.
  • Maternal mortality estimates - Authors' reply.
    Kassebaum NJ, Wang H, Lopez AD, Murray CJ, Lozano R. Kassebaum NJ, et al. Lancet. 2014 Dec 20;384(9961):2211-2. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(14)62425-9. Epub 2014 Dec 19. Lancet. 2014. PMID: 25625397 No abstract available.
  • In-country data will illuminate under-5 mortality disparities.
    Moyer CA, Waiswa P. Moyer CA, et al. Lancet. 2021 Sep 4;398(10303):821-822. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(21)01110-7. Epub 2021 Aug 17. Lancet. 2021. PMID: 34416194 No abstract available.

Similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Shiffman J, Smith S. Generation of political priority for global health initiatives: a framework and case study of maternal mortality. Lancet. 2007;370:1370–79. - PubMed
    1. Bustreo F, Requejo JH, Merialdi M, Presern C, Songane F. From safe motherhood, newborn, and child survival partnerships to the continuum of care and accountability: moving fast forward to 2015. Int J Gynaecol Obstet. 2012;119(suppl 1):S6–8. - PubMed
    1. Commission on Information and Accountability for Women’s and Children’s Health [accessed January 29, 2014];Keeping promises, measuring results. 2011 http://www.everywomaneverychild.org/images/content/files/accountability_....
    1. Hogan MC, Foreman KJ, Naghavi M, et al. Maternal mortality for 181 countries, 1980-2008: a systematic analysis of progress towards Millennium Development Goal 5. Lancet. 2010;375:1609–23. - PubMed
    1. Lozano R, Wang H, Foreman KJ, et al. Progress towards Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5 on maternal and child mortality: an updated systematic analysis. Lancet. 2011;378:1139–65. - PubMed

Publication types