The Effects of Maternal Age on Neonatal and Post-neonatal Mortality in India: Roles of Socioeconomic and Biodemographic Factors

Abstract

Maternal age is one of the strongest predictors of infant mortality. Despite the relatively high prevalence of childbearing at younger and advanced ages and high infant mortality rates in India, systematic studies on the relationship between these variables are lacking. This study fills this gap by analyzing the data obtained from 2015-16 India’s National Family Health Survey. The analysis is based on a sample of 230,475 children born in the 5 years preceding the survey. We find that, generally, there is a mild U-shaped relationship between maternal age and mortality risk in the first year of life, with children born to mothers in their teens and late 30s and beyond being most at risk and those born to mothers aged 25–29 being least at risk. In addition, we find that socioeconomic, biodemographic, and other health-related factors account for some, but not all, maternal-age effects on mortality, suggesting that maternal age is an independent risk factor for both neonatal and post-neonatal mortality. While biodemographic and other health-related factors play important roles in explaining why children born to mothers at both ends of the reproductive-age spectrum are at significantly increased risks, the effects of socioeconomic factors are relatively modest, and that is the case among children born to mothers at advanced ages only. The results underscore the importance of maternal and child health care policies, which can help teenage mothers postpone having children until their late 20s, not have a child shortly after the preceding birth, and continuously monitor the health conditions of low-birthweight children.