The trends of maternal mortality ratios and cause pattern in 34 Chinese provinces, 1990–2017

BACKGROUND: Understanding the trends and causes to the burden of maternal deaths is a key requirement to further reduce the maternal mortality ratio (MMR), and devise targeted intervention policy. We aimed to evaluate the spatiotemporal trends of MMRs and cause patterns across the 34 provinces of China during 1990–2017. METHODS: Using data from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017, we calculated the levels and trends of total maternal deaths and MMR due to ten different causes through Bayesian multivariable regression model for pregnancies aged 10–54 years, and assessed the age and regional distribution over time. RESULTS: China has experienced fast decline in MMR, dropped from 95.2 (87.8–102.3) in 1990 to 13.6 (12.5–15.0) in 2017, with an annualised rate of decline of 7.0%. In 1990, the range of MMRs in mainland China was 31.1 in Shanghai, to 323.4 in Tibet. Almost all provinces showed remarkable decline in the last two decades. However, spatial heterogeneity in levels and trends still existed. The annualised rate of decline across provinces from 1990 to 2017 ranged from 0.54% to 10.14%. Decline accelerated between 2005 and 2017 compared with between 1990 and 2005. In 2017, the lowest MMR was 4.2 in Zhejiang; the highest was still in Tibet, but had fallen to 82.7, dropped by 74.4%. MMR was highest in the 40–49 years age group in both 1990 and 2017. In 2017, haemorrhage and hypertensive disorders were the leading two specific causes for maternal deaths. CONCLUSIONS: MMRs have declined rapidly and universally across the provinces of China. Setting of associated interventions in the future will need careful consideration of provinces that still have MMR significantly higher than the national mean level. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12889-022-13770-0.