Global, regional, and national burden of neonatal sepsis and other neonatal infections, 1990-2019: findings from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019.

UNLABELLED

To provide an overview of the global, regional, and national incidence and mortality of neonatal sepsis and other neonatal infections (NS) and their change trends from 1990 to 2019, based on the data from the 2019 Global Burden of Disease study. This was a retrospective demographic analysis based on aggregated data. Annual incident cases, deaths, age-standardized incidence rate (ASIR), age-standardized mortality rate (ASMR) and their percentage changes of NS during 1990-2019 were collected from the 2019 Global Burden of Disease study. Globally, the incident cases of NS increased by 12.79% (from 5.59 million in 1990 to 6.31 million in 2019), and the deaths decreased by 12.93% (from 0.26 million in 1990 to 0.23 million in 2019). In the globe, the ASIR of NS per 100,000 population increased by 14.35% (from 85.21 in 1990 to 97.43 in 2019), and the ASMR decreased by 11.91% (from 3.97 in 1990 to 3.5 in 2019).

CONCLUSION

Increasing trends in incidence and decreasing trends in mortality of NS were observed worldwide from 1990 to 2019. More robust epidemiological research and effective health strategies are urgently needed to reduce the disease burden of neonatal sepsis worldwide.

WHAT IS KNOWN

• Neonatal sepsis has significant impacts on neonatal health, but estimates on the global burden and trends of neonatal sepsis are scarce and existing findings vary considerably.

WHAT IS NEW

• Globally, there were 6.31 million incident cases of neonatal sepsis and 0.23 million deaths due to neonatal sepsis. • Increasing trends in incidence and decreasing trends in mortality of neonatal sepsis were observed worldwide from 1990 to 2019, with the highest absolute burden in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia.