Epidemiology of Maternal Hypertensive Disorders

BACKGROUND: Maternal hypertensive disorders during pregnancy are a worldwide health problem, particularly in the countries/regions with low sociodemographic levels. This study aimed to reveal and predict the hypertensive disorders during pregnancy-related epidemiological trends. METHODS: Using data from the Global Burden of Disease 2019 study, we constructed an age-period-cohort model to assess the net drift (annual percentage changes), associated age, period, and cohort effects across global and different sociodemographic index (SDI) regions. Moreover, we analyzed attributable risk factors and future trends based on the autoregressive integrated moving average model. RESULTS: The numbers of hypertensive disorders during pregnancy worldwide increased by 10.9% (95% uncertainty interval, 6.1–15.3) from 1990 to 2019 and only increased in the low-SDI countries. The age-standardized incidence rate declined by 23.6% (20.6, 26.9), with a global net drift of −0.8%, whereas some higher-SDI countries showed a positive net drift. After controlling for period and cohort factors, the highest incidence was observed in the 20- to 29-year age group. The period and cohort effects showed decreasing trends, whereas unfavorable period effects occurred after 2010 in high-SDI and middle-high-SDI countries. High-income North America and western sub-Saharan Africa have shown increased numbers of disability-adjusted life years due to malnutrition. The autoregressive integrated moving average model revealed downward trends in the global incidence and age-standardized incidence rate by 2030. CONCLUSIONS: Our study highlights significant regional and national variations and age differences in the burden of hypertensive disorders during pregnancy associated with SDI stratification, which will facilitate the targeting of cost-effective health policy planning, resource allocation, and women’s health management by policymakers.