Maternal mortality and adverse child outcomes for women with disabilities: A systematic review and meta-analysis
- 1London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Abstract
BackgroundReducing maternal mortality and improving newborn and child outcomes are targets of the Sustainable Development Goals. Evidence on how these efforts are reaching women with disabilities is lacking.
Objectivesto estimate global, relative inequalities in stillbirth, neonatal, infant, and maternal mortality for women with disabilities compared to women without disabilities.
MethodsWe searched MEDLINE, Global Health, PsycINFO, and Embase from 1 January 2015 to 28 January 2026, to identify articles on disability and stillbirth, neonatal, infant, and maternal mortality. We included studies that had a recognised measure of disability as an exposure, a control group of women without disabilities and at least one of the four outcomes. A pooled estimate for each outcome was done using a random-effects meta-analysis of the minimally adjusted results.
ResultsWe identified over 4,300 titles, of which 17 papers were eligible for inclusion. Almost all data came from nationally-representative data sources in high-income countries. We found that women with disabilities were 4.66 times more likely (95% C.I. 1.70-12.75) to experience maternal mortality compared to women without disabilities. Women with disabilities were also 37% more likely to have a stillbirth and 27% and 48% more likely to have a neonatal or infant death compared to women without disabilities, respectively.
ConclusionsWomen with disabilities consistently have higher incidence of maternal, stillbirth, neonatal, and infant mortality, even in countries that have relatively low incidence of these outcomes. There is a lack of evidence globally and particularly from LMICs, and on effective interventions to improve maternal and infant outcomes for women with disabilities.
Related
- Multi-site metabolomics reveals one-carbon and placental steroid disruption in maternal pre-pregnancy obesity linked to adverse pregnancy outcomes
- Association between maternal dysglycaemia and adverse perinatal outcomes: A retrospective cohort study using a Japanese mother–infant-linked claims database
- Missed Early Signs of Tuberculosis in Pregnancy: Insights From a Case Series of Disseminated Life-Threatening Maternal Disease and Adverse Fetal Outcomes.
- Adverse pregnancy outcomes associated with advanced maternal age among Libyan women: a cross-sectional study at Benghazi medical centre
- Association of adverse pregnancy outcomes with coronary microvascular dysfunction: a systematic review and meta-analysis
BibTeX
@misc{rotenberg2026maternal,
title = {{Maternal mortality and adverse child outcomes for women with disabilities: A systematic review and meta-analysis}},
author = {S. Rotenberg and M. Chilufya-Moyo and A. Valentine and T. Smythe and I. Forde and M. Mitra and H. Kuper},
howpublished = {medRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = aug,
doi = {10.64898/2026.08.25.26361292},
url = {https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.08.25.26361292v1},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Maternal mortality and adverse child outcomes for women with disabilities: A systematic review and meta-analysis
AU - S. Rotenberg
AU - M. Chilufya-Moyo
AU - A. Valentine
AU - T. Smythe
AU - I. Forde
AU - M. Mitra
AU - H. Kuper
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/08/25
PB - medRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.08.25.26361292
UR - https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.08.25.26361292v1
AB - BackgroundReducing maternal mortality and improving newborn and child outcomes are targets of the Sustainable Development Goals. Evidence on how these efforts are reaching women with disabilities is lacking. Objectivesto estimate global, relative inequalities in stillbirth, neonatal, infant, and maternal mortality for women with disabilities compared to women without disabilities. MethodsWe searched MEDLINE, Global Health, PsycINFO, and Embase from 1 January 2015 to 28 January 2026, to identify articles on disability and stillbirth, neonatal, infant, and maternal mortality. We included studies that had a recognised measure of disability as an exposure, a control group of women without disabilities and at least one of the four outcomes. A pooled estimate for each outcome was done using a random-effects meta-analysis of the minimally adjusted results. ResultsWe identified over 4,300 titles, of which 17 papers were eligible for inclusion. Almost all data came from nationally-representative data sources in high-income countries. We found that women with disabilities were 4.66 times more likely (95% C.I. 1.70-12.75) to experience maternal mortality compared to women without disabilities. Women with disabilities were also 37% more likely to have a stillbirth and 27% and 48% more likely to have a neonatal or infant death compared to women without disabilities, respectively. ConclusionsWomen with disabilities consistently have higher incidence of maternal, stillbirth, neonatal, and infant mortality, even in countries that have relatively low incidence of these outcomes. There is a lack of evidence globally and particularly from LMICs, and on effective interventions to improve maternal and infant outcomes for women with disabilities.
ER -