Journal Article

The Global Network Socioeconomic Status Index as a predictor of stillbirths, perinatal mortality, and neonatal mortality in rural communities in low and lower middle income country sites of the Global Network for Women’s and Children’s Health Research

McClure, Elizabeth M., Derman, Richard J., Patel, Archana B., Saleem, Sarah, Kolhe, Cherryl S., Bauserman, Melissa, Bann, Carla M., Lokangaka, Adrien, Esamai, Fabian, Figueroa, Lester, Goldenberg, Robert L., Carlo, Waldemar A., Bucher, Sherri, Krebs, Nancy F., Chomba, Elwyn, Goudar, Shivaprasad, Hibberd, Patricia L., Koso-Thomas, Marion, Tshefu, Antoinette

2022

Overview

Globally, socioeconomic status (SES) is an important health determinant across a range of health conditions and diseases. However, measuring SES within low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) can be particularly challenging given the variation and diversity of LMIC populations. The current study investigates whether maternal SES as assessed by the newly developed Global Network-SES Index is associated with pregnancy outcomes (stillbirths, perinatal mortality, and neonatal mortality) in six LMICs: Democratic Republic of the Congo, Guatemala, India, Kenya, Pakistan, and Zambia. The analysis included data from 87,923 women enrolled in the Maternal and Newborn Health Registry of the NICHD-funded Global Network for Women's and Children's Health Research. Generalized estimating equations models were computed for each outcome by SES level (high, moderate, or low) and controlling for site, maternal age, parity, years of schooling, body mass index, and facility birth, including sampling cluster as a random effect. Women with low SES had significantly higher risks for stillbirth (p < 0.001), perinatal mortality (p = 0.001), and neonatal mortality (p = 0.005) than women with high SES. In addition, those with moderate SES had significantly higher risks of stillbirth (p = 0.003) and perinatal mortality (p = 0.008) in comparison to those with high SES. The SES categories were associated with pregnancy outcomes, supporting the validity of the index as a non-income-based measure of SES for use in studies of pregnancy outcomes in LMICs.

• Publisher: Public Library of Science,Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subject: Babies / Biology and Life Sciences / Births / Body mass / Body mass index / Body size / Child / Child Health / Childbirth & labor / Childrens health / Developing Countries / Earth Sciences / Female / Health aspects / Health risks / Households / Humans / Income / Infant Mortality / Infant, Newborn / Infants / Infants (Newborn) / Maternal & child health / Medical research / Medicine and Health Sciences / Miscarriage / Mortality / Neonates / Newborn babies / Patient outcomes / People and Places / Perinatal Death / Perinatal Mortality / Population studies / Pregnancy / Pregnant women / Questionnaires / Rural areas / Rural communities / Rural Population / Social Class / Social classes / Social Sciences / Socioeconomic factors / Socioeconomic status / Socioeconomics / Stillbirth / Stillbirth - epidemiology / Women's Health / Womens health