Social determinants of health in obstetric emergencies: bibliometric-systematic review PRISMA based (2015-2025)

Abstract

Maternal health is one one of the most sensitive indicators of development and reducing maternal mortality and obstetric complications remains a central challenge for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Maternal mortality is tied to obstetric emergencies: sudden events during pregnancy, birth or the postpartum period that call for immediate attention. This bibliometric-systematic review is focused on the social determinants of health (SDOH) and obstetric emergencies published between 2015 and 2025, to identify the most relevant publications and authors and also to point out research gaps. The Marzi et al. guidelines were followed, with checkpoints and aligned with PRISMA. A five-phase strategy is proposed: preliminary scan, Scopus (elsevier) search, manual screening, data preprocessing in Python, bibliometric mapping in VOSviewer ( keyword co-occurrence, co-authorship by author and country, and author co-citation) and qualitative document analysis.

Of 748 screened records, 495 were included. Output grew steadily, rose sharply in 2024 and peaked in 2025. The United States leads production, followed by the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia. The co-authorship network is fragmented, yet co-citation reveals four intellectual streams: quality of care, global maternal health, perinatal epidemiology and structural racism. Studies in the qualitative subcorpus increasingly draw on data science techniques. SDH are shifting from being treated as context to being treated as variables in studies of adverse maternal and perinatal outcomes. Gaps remain regarding indigenous and latin american populations, women’s voices, maternal near miss, and models that explain how poverty becomes embodied during pregnancy.