Objective: To describe proportionate mortality and causes of death unrelated to pregnancy.
Design: Prospective cohort study.
Setting: Rural northwest Bangladesh.
Population: A cohort of 133,617 married women of reproductive age.
Methods: Verbal autopsies were conducted for women who died whilst under surveillance in the cohort trial. Physician-assigned causes of death based on verbal autopsies were used to categorise deaths.
Main outcome measures: The proportion of deaths due to non-communicable diseases, infectious diseases, injury or pregnancy.
Results: Of the 1107 deaths occurring among women between 2001 and 2007, 48% were attributed to non-communicable diseases, 22% to pregnancy, 17% to infections, 9% to injury and 4% to other causes.
Conclusions: Although focus on pregnancy-related mortality remains important, more attention is warranted on non-communicable diseases among women of reproductive age.
Keywords: Bangladesh; South Asia; low-income settings; non-communicable disease; reproductive age; verbal autopsy.
© 2013 The Authors BJOG An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology © 2013 RCOG.