Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42549782›Full record

ArticleGlobal health action2026

(De)coding perinatal deaths: applying the International Classification of Diseases to perinatal mortality to a perinatal e-registry from 16 hospitals in Benin, Malawi, Tanzania, and Uganda.

María Del Rosario Alsina, Aliki Christou, Phillip Wanduru, Bianca Kandeya, Muzdalifat Abeid, Effie Chipeta, Hussein Kidanto, Andrea Barnabas Pembe, Jean-Paul Dossou, Peter Waiswa and 2 more

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Article in Global health action, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

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2 · The registry

The trial behind it

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Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

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4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

12 authors.

María Del Rosario AlsinaDepartment of Global Public Health, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.ORCID 0009-0006-2862-5207
Aliki ChristouSexual and Reproductive Health Unit, Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp, Belgium.ORCID 0000-0001-9525-8255
Phillip WanduruSchool of Public Health, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda.ORCID 0000-0001-5934-2505
Bianca KandeyaCentre for Reproductive Health, Kamuzu University of Health Sciences, Blantyre, Malawi.ORCID 0000-0002-8829-4618
Muzdalifat AbeidMedical College, Aga Khan University, Dar es Salaam, United Republic of Tanzania.ORCID 0000-0001-6196-168X
Effie ChipetaCentre for Reproductive Health, Kamuzu University of Health Sciences, Blantyre, Malawi.ORCID 0000-0002-7925-3443
Hussein KidantoMedical College, Aga Khan University, Dar es Salaam, United Republic of Tanzania.ORCID 0000-0001-9167-8068
Andrea Barnabas PembeDepartment of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences, Dar es Salaam, United Republic of Tanzania.ORCID 0000-0002-8090-3298
Jean-Paul DossouCentre de Recherche en Reproduction Humaine et en Démographie, Cotonou, Benin.ORCID 0000-0003-1681-2604
Peter WaiswaSchool of Public Health, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda.ORCID 0000-0001-9868-0515
Lenka BeňováSexual and Reproductive Health Unit, Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp, Belgium.ORCID 0000-0001-8595-365X
Claudia HansonDepartment of Global Public Health, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.ORCID 0000-0001-8066-7873

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundTo reduce perinatal deaths, identification of their causes is paramount. 'The WHO application of ICD-10 to deaths during the perinatal period' (ICD-PM) was developed to improve the quality of perinatal death data.

objectivesTo determine stillbirth and very early neonatal death rates across 16 hospitals in Benin, Malawi, Tanzania, and Uganda, examine causes of death and associated maternal conditions applying the ICD-PM, and assess how a clinical perinatal e-registry performed when applying the ICD-PM.

methodsWe used cross-sectional data collected between 1st July 2021 and 29th February 2024 of babies weighing ≥1000 g or ≥28 weeks of gestational age, born to women aged 13-50 years in the participating hospitals.

resultsAfter analyzing 143,105 births, the stillbirth rate was 36.9 per 1,000 births and very early neonatal death rate was 7.7 per 1,000 live births. Nine in ten antepartum stillbirths could not be assigned a cause of death. Among intrapartum stillbirths, the most common cause of death was 'disorders of fetal growth' and for very early neonatal death it was 'complications of intrapartum events'. The e-registry provided information to report on 17 out of the 24 ICD-PM categories.

conclusionsCollecting high-quality clinical data through an e-registry allowed the identification of a cause of death for most intrapartum stillbirths and very early neonatal deaths. A specifically designed clinical questionnaire and simple diagnostic procedures could enable the application of the ICD-PM in settings with limited diagnostic resources and high mortality rates.

Indexed as

International Classification of DiseasesPerinatal DeathPerinatal MortalityRegistriesStillbirthAdolescentAdultBeninCause of DeathCross-Sectional StudiesFemaleHumansInfantInfant, NewbornMalawiMiddle Agedcause of deathneonatal deathregistryStillbirthsub-saharan Africa

Identifiers

PMID42549782
PMCPMC13439779

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.