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

Abstract Objectives 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. Methods 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. Results Globally, the incident cases of NS increased by 14.33% from 5.18 million in 1990 to 5.92 million in 2019, and the deaths decreased by 13.29% from 242,460 in 1990 to 210,250 in 2019. In the globe, the ASIR of NS per 100,000 population increased by 14.34% from 85.21 in 1990 to 97.43 in 2019, and the ASMR decreased by 11.84% from 3.97 in 1990 to 3.5 in 2019. Conclusions 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.