Trends and Determinants of Perinatal Mortality in Bangladesh

Ehsan Ahmed, Tejgaon College
M Sheikh Giash Uddin, Jagannath University

Bangladesh, a country in south Asia, continues to have high perinatal mortality rates (PMR) as compared with others in south Asia. This study set out to explore the trends and determinants of perinatal mortality in Bangladesh. This study used data from Bangladesh Demographic and Health Surveys: 2007, 2011, 2014, 2017-18 and 2022. Univariate and bivariate analyses were performed. The Cochran-Armitage test was used to evaluate the trends in perinatal mortality. A binary logistic regression model was used to identify variables having a significant association with perinatal mortality at p < 0.05. There were 41388 pregnancies reaching seven months of their gestation, comprising 1933 perinatal deaths, where PMR were significantly reduced from 55 (95% CI: 50–61) to 39 (95% CI: 35–43) per 1000 pregnancies between 2007 and 2022, within which stillbirths and early neonatal death rates reduced from 28 to 21 and 27 to 18, respectively. Covariates in the model: child sex, type of birth, mother’s age at birth, maternal working status, maternal education, age at first birth, pregnancy termination history, number of living children, time to breastfeeding initiations, paternal education, wealth index, and religion were significantly associated with PMR. Although Bangladesh's PMR has been steadily dropping, it is still unsatisfactory.

Keywords: Health and Morbidity

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