A soaring maternal mortality rate: What does it mean for you?

In June 2018, Serena Williams told Vanity Fair about her journey to motherhood, including the story of how she nearly died a few days after giving birth. In September, Beyoncé punctuated her Vogue cover with the story of how she developed a life-threatening pregnancy condition called preeclampsia, which can lead to seizures and stroke. Throughout the summer, headlines like “Dying to Deliver” and “Deadly Deliveries” and “Maternal Mortality: An American Crisis” popped up on newsfeeds and streamed on screens across America. As a professor who studies safety in pregnancy, I was quoted in many articles and media features. I explained what the harrowing stories indicate about our health systems, our public policies, our society at large. But as an obstetrician, I’ve been puzzling over how to explain to my patients what this means for them individually. And my pregnant wife, who is due any day, has been noticing the headlines too. What is maternal mortality? Typically, deaths that occur due to complications of pregnancy or childbirth, or within six weeks after giving birth, are recorded as maternal mortality. What do the statistics tell us? In 1990, about 17 maternal deaths were recorded for every 100,000 pregnant women in the United States. While relatively rare, this number has risen steadily over the last 25 years, indicating a worsening safety problem. In 2015, more than 26 deaths were recorded per 100,000 pregnant women. This means that compared with their own ...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Health Health trends Pregnancy Women's Health Source Type: blogs