ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Children and Health
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1583572
This article is part of the Research TopicEvaluating Efficacy and Outcomes in Neonatal HIE Treatment: A Global PerspectiveView all 8 articles
Neonatal Encephalopathy Due to Birth Asphyxia and Trauma: Global Trends and Disparities
Provisionally accepted
Fengling Du1
Long Gu2
Junyi Wang1
Chan Zhang1
Chun Li3Shuai Zhao1Yunchuan Shen1Mei Luo1Yun Yan1
Jian Zhou2*
Wenbin Dong1*- 1Department of Neonatology, Affiliated Hospital of Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, Sichuan, China
- 2Department of Neurosurgery, The Affiliated Hospital of Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, Sichuan Province, China
- 3Affiliated Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital, Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, Sichuan, China
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Background: Neonatal encephalopathy due to birth asphyxia and trauma (NE-BAT) is a leading cause of neonatal mortality and long-term neurodevelopmental disabilities, particularly in low-and middle-income regions. Methods: Using the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2021 dataset, we analyzed global incidence, prevalence, mortality, and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) of NE-BAT from 1990 to 2021. We examined age-standardized rates, estimated annual percentage changes (EAPC), socio-demographic index (SDI) quintiles, gender differences, and used autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) models for 2031 projections. Results: From 1990 to 2021, global age-standardized incidence rate declined from 20.22 to 17.16 per 100,000 (EAPC: -0.56), while prevalence increased from 129.73 to 242.03 per 100,000 (EAPC: 2.16). Males had higher incidence (19.93 vs. 14.18 per 100,000) and prevalence (291.46 vs. 191.38 per 100,000) than females. Mortality declined from 13.81 to 9.75 per 100,000 (EAPC: -1.24), and DALYs decreased from 1270.67 to 932.14 per 100,000 (EAPC: -1.12). Low SDI locations had NE-BATspecific mortality rates 27 times higher than high SDI locations (17.77 vs 0.66 per 100,000 in 2021). Projections to 2031 suggest continued declines in incidence and DALYs but rising prevalence and mortality rates.While global burden of NE-BAT has improved through reduced incidence and DALYs, persistent gender and regional disparities, along with rising prevalence rates, pose ongoing challenges. Targeted interventions addressing these disparities, particularly in low SDI locations, are essential to improve neonatal outcomes and reduce health inequalities.
Keywords: Neonatal encephalopathy due to birth asphyxia and trauma (NE-BAT), Asphyxia Neonatorum, Birth Injuries, Infant Mortality, global health, Epidemiology
Received: 26 Feb 2025; Accepted: 29 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Du, Gu, Wang, Zhang, Li, Zhao, Shen, Luo, Yan, Zhou and Dong. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Jian Zhou, Department of Neurosurgery, The Affiliated Hospital of Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, Sichuan Province, China
Wenbin Dong, Department of Neonatology, Affiliated Hospital of Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, Sichuan, China
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