Despite growing emphasis on maternal health, pregnancy-related death rates remain high in the U.S., increasing nearly 28% from 2018 to 2022, according to a study published April 9 in JAMA Network Open.
The study is based on information from a CDC database and was led by researchers at Harvard Medical School, Boston Children’s Hospital and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, all based in Boston.
Five notes:
- Over the five-year study period, the maternal death rate in the U.S. increased from 25.3 deaths per 100,000 live births to 32.6 deaths per 100,000. A total of 6,238 pregnancy-related deaths were reported among women ages 15 to 54.
- Notably, about one-third of the deaths occurred more than six weeks after childbirth, underscoring the need for wider access to maternal care up to a full year after birth, researchers told The New York Times. Typically, a new mother’s last recommended checkup is six weeks after childbirth.
- The study found large disparities in maternal death rates by race and ethnicity, as well as by region. Pregnancy related-deaths were highest among Native American and Alaskan Native Women (106.3 deaths per 100,000 live births), followed by Black women (76.9 deaths per 100,000 births). The rates were lowest among Hispanic women and Asian women.
- Pregnancy-related death rates varied more than threefold between states, with Southeastern states seeing the highest rates. The highest crude rate was in Alabama (59.7 deaths per 100,000 live births,) followed by Mississippi. California had the lowest rate in the country (18.5 deaths per 100,000 births). If every state achieved California’s rate, researchers estimate more than 2,679 deaths could have been avoided over the study period.
- Cardiovascular disease was the leading cause of pregnancy-related deaths. Cancer, mental and behavioral disorders and drug-induced and alcohol-induced death were also major causes.
