Levels and trends in mortality and causes of death among women of reproductive age in Bangladesh: Findings from three national surveys

Citation: Nahar Q, Alam A, Mahmud K, Sathi SS, Chakraborty N, Siddique AB, Rahman AE, Streatfield PK, Jamil K, El Arifeen S. Levels and trends in mortality and causes of death among women of reproductive age in Bangladesh: Findings from three national surveys. J Glob Health. 2023 Aug 25;13:07005. doi: 10.7189/jogh.13.07005. PMID: 37616128; PMCID: PMC10449030.

Abstract: Information on the mortality rate and proportional cause-specific mortality is essential for identifying diseases of public health importance, design programmes, and formulating policies, but such data on women of reproductive age in Bangladesh is limited.

We analysed secondary data from the 2001, 2010, and 2016 rounds of the nationally representative Bangladesh Maternal Mortality and Health Care Survey (BMMS) to estimate mortality rates and causes of death among women aged 15-49 years. We collected information on causes of death three years prior to each survey using a country-adapted version of the World Health Organization (WHO) verbal autopsy (VA) questionnaire. Trained physicians independently reviewed the VA questionnaire and assigned a cause of death using the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) codes. The analysis included mortality rates and proportional mortality showing overall and age-specific causes of death.

There was a gradual shift in the causes of death from communicable to non-communicable diseases among women of reproductive age in Bangladesh. Suicide as the primary cause of death among teenage girls demands urgent attention for prevention.

Shortname: JA-23-299

Author(s): Quamrun Nahar, Anadil Alam, Kaiser Mahmud, Shahnaj Sultana Sathi, Nitai Chakraborty, Abu Bakkar Siddique, Ahmed Ehsanur Rahman, Peter K Streatfield, Kanta Jamil, Shams El Arifeen

Year: 2023

Language: English

Region(s): BANGLADESH

Filed under: Bangladesh, journal article, secondary data, Women