Levels and causes of maternal mortality in Senegal
Open accessAbstract
OBJECTIVES To report the findings of a direct, community‐based, assessment of maternal mortality and medical causes of death using verbal autopsy in three unique cohorts in rural Senegal. METHODS Methods from ongoing demographic surveillance systems. We obtained records of all deaths and births in women of age 15–49 over a period of 14 years in Niakhar, 10 years in Bandafassi and 13 years in Mlomp. Relatives of all women who died were interviewed using a standard questionnaire. Causes of death were assigned by three physicians independently. Maternal deaths were defined according to the ninth and tenth revisions of the International Classification of Diseases. RESULTS The maternal mortality ratio was similar in Mlomp [436 per 100 000 live births (95% confidence interval 209–802)] and Niakhar [516 per 100 000 (413–636)] but significantly higher in the more remote area of Bandafassi [852 (587–1196)] [relative risk compared with Niakhar 1.6 (1.0–2.4)]. Two‐thirds of the maternal deaths were from direct obstetric causes, haemorrhage being the most common. Abortion was rare. CONCLUSIONS Demographic surveillance systems are useful tools for the measurement of maternal mortality provided special studies are carried out to arrive at the levels and causes of maternal death. The estimates of maternal mortality reported here are lower than those published by the WHO and UNICEF but remain extremely high, particularly in the very remote areas with very limited health infrastructure, where as many as one in 19 women may be expected to die as a consequence of childbirth.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
The most common causes of maternal morbidity and mortality-hemorrhage, hypertensive disorders, infection, and sepsis-are often preceded by predictable vital signs perturbations in both high-resource and low-resource settings, and early intervention is key to improving outcomes.
“The most common causes of maternal morbidity and mortality—hemorrhage, hypertensive disorders, infection, and sepsis—are often preceded by predictable vital signs perturbations in both high-resource and low-resource settings, and early intervention is key to improving outcomes (4–9).”
From Comprehensive pregnancy monitoring with a network of wireless, soft, and flexible sensors in high- and low-resource health settings (2021) · cites this paper as [5]
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
The citation lists haven’t been fetched yet
References 25 · Cited by 49
Research works printed but not linked: 8
- Delaunay V (1998) La Situation De´mographique et E ´pide´mio- logique Dans la Zone de Niakhar Au Se´ne´gal. ORSTOM, Dakar (http://www.ird.sn). Tropical Medicine and International Health volume 7 no 6 pp 499-505 june 2002
- Garenne M & Koumans E (1997) Prospective community studies in developing countries: a survey of surveys. In: Prospective Community Studies in Developing Countries (eds M Das Gupta, P Aaby, M Garenne & G Pison). Clarendon Press, Oxford, pp. 297-338.
- Graham WJ (1991) Maternal mortality: levels, trends, and data deficiencies. In: Disease and Mortality in Sub-Saharan Africa (eds WJ Feachem & DT Jamison). Oxford University Press for the World Bank, Oxford, pp. 101-116.
- Greenland S & Rothman K (1998) Introduction to categorical statistics. In: Modern Epidemiology, 2nd edn (eds K Rothman & S Greenland). Lippincott-Raven, Philadelphia, pp. 231-252.
- Pison G, Desgre ´es du Lou ˆA & Langaney A (1997) Bandafassi: a 25 years prospective community study in rural Senegal (1970-1995). In: Prospective Community Studies in Developing Countries (eds M Das Gupta, P Aaby, M Garenne & G Pison). Clarendon Press, Oxford, pp. 253-275.
- Ronsmans C, Walraven G & Etard JF (2002) Verbal autopsies. In: Qualitative Approaches for Investigating Maternal Deaths. World Health Organisation, Geneva (in press).
- Sullivan J, Ayad M & Ndiaye S (1994) Mortalite maternelle. In: Enqueˆte De´mographique et de Sante´Au Se´ne´gal (EDS-II) 1992/ 93 (eds S Ndiaye, PDM Diouf, & M Ayad) Macro International Inc, Calverton, pp. 133-140.
- Walsh JA, Feifer CM, Measham AR & Gertler PJ (1993) Maternal an perinatal health. In: Disease Control Priorities in Developing Countries (eds DT Jamison, WH Mosley, AR Measham & JL Bodadilla). Oxford University Press for The World Bank, New York, pp. 363-390.
- Authors
- Kodio, B., De Bernis, L., Ba, M., Ronsmans, C., Pison, G., & Etard, J.
- Affiliations
- Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (SN)
- London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (GB)
- Institut national d'études démographiques (FR)
- ORCID
- Pison, Gilles
- Venue
- Tropical Medicine & International Health
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2002-05-28
- Volume
- 7
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 499-505
- ISSN
- 1360-2276 (ISSN-L)
- 1365-3156
- OpenAlex
- W2036047449
- Cited by
- 49
- References
- 25
- Citations by year
- 2025: 2 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 3 · 2021: 3 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 1 · 2015: 1 · 2014: 3 · 2013: 5
- FWCI
- 1.80
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Tropical Medicine & International Health (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- HAL (submittedVersion)
- Archined (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health › Global Maternal and Child Health
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health › Maternal and fetal healthcare
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Reproductive Health and Contraception
- Keywords
- maternal mortality, causes of maternal death, direct obstetric causes, hemorrhage, abortion, verbal autopsy, demographic surveillance systems, rural Senegal, remote areas, health infrastructure, Niakhar
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Cause of Death, Female, Postpartum Hemorrhage, Humans, Maternal Mortality, Middle Aged, Population Surveillance, Pregnancy, Prenatal Care, Rural Population, Senegal, Cohort Studies, Databases, Factual
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
