Among high-income countries worldwide, the United States has one of the highest maternal mortality rates. According to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, most of these deaths are preventable. The new CDC report shows that 4 out of 5 of the deaths caused during pregnancy and a year after giving birth, could have been avoided if there is increased access to healthcare.
The Chief Medical Officer at the Seven Starling, Dr. Amy Roskin highlighted the urgent need for systematic change in order to lower the rates of pregnancy related deaths. She stressed that by bringing innovation in care before, during, and after pregnancy these losses can be prevented.
As part of the CDC report, researchers analyzed data from 36 states and looked at over 1000 pregnancy-related deaths from the years 2017-2019.
A preventable cause of death was identified in over 80% of these cases and over half the deaths occurred within a year of giving birth. Leading causes varied among women of different races and ethnicities but the most common ones were heart conditions, hemorrhage, and mental health conditions like substance abuse and suicide.
The most common cause of death among Asian women was hemorrhage and heart conditions were the leading cause of death among Black women. White and Hispanic women suffered from fatal mental health conditions. It was harder to identify a cause of death among Indian American or Native Alaskan women due to their small population sizes but other reports exist that suggest that hemorrhage and mental health conditions were leading causes of maternal mortality rates among these populations.
Experts believe that in order to improve health outcomes among pregnant and postpartum women, healthcare workers need to create awareness among patients about the possibility of pregnancy-related medical complications rising, even after giving birth. When screening patients, health care providers should also inquire if their patients have recently given birth to better assess what conditions they are susceptible to.
Associate professor of public health at the University of California, Tim Bruckner suggests increasing access to health insurance and improving prenatal and follow-up care coverage could be instrumental in bringing down mortality rates. Health outcomes can also be improved by minimizing barriers to care, such as transportation cost to healthcare facilities.
In California, health officials have already taken initiatives to improve the situation. In order to make informed clinical changes, authorities are now making use of public health surveillance data. Moreover, partnerships with private and public healthcare sectors are also underway. This is so that improvement projects can be developed.
The current Biden administration has also taken note of the problem and Vice-President Kamala Harris wrote “In what is supposed to be the most joyous occasion of their lives, far too many women experience pain and neglect.” As a result in June the “Blueprint for Assessing the Maternal Health Crisis” was launched. The project aims to make the U.S. the best country to have a baby in.
