According to a new study led by the National Institutes of Health, there has been a significant increase in the number of pregnancy-related deaths in the United States in recent years.
The study authors examined data regarding 6,283 pregnancy-related deaths in the U.S. between 2018 and 2022. Over this time period, deaths related to pregnancy rose by more than 27 percent, from 25.3 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2018 to 32.6 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2022. Pregnancy-related deaths were the most prevalent in 2021, with 44.1 deaths per 100,000 live births occurring throughout the year.
The study also uncovered large disparities in the frequency of maternal deaths based on different demographic groups. American Indian or Alaska Native women had a maternal mortality rate that was 3.8 times higher than White women. Non-Hispanic Black women were 2.8 times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than White women. Women aged 25 to 39 experienced a 36.8 percent increase in maternal mortality between 2018 and 2022 – the highest increase among all age groups included in the study.
Alabama and Mississippi had the highest maternal mortality rates in the country, at 59.7 deaths and 58.2 deaths per 100,000 live births, respectively. In contrast, California had the lowest rate of pregnancy-related deaths, at 18.5 deaths per 100,000 live births. If the national rate was the same as California’s rate, 2,679 deaths would have been avoided from 2018 to 2022.
Currently, the United States has the highest rate of pregnancy-related deaths among all high-income countries around the world, and according to the authors, many of these deaths are preventable. Cardiovascular disease was found to be the leading cause of maternal death, followed by cancer, mental and behavioral disorders, and substance abuse. Furthermore, 30 percent of all pregnancy-related deaths from 2018 to 2022 were late maternal deaths, meaning they occurred within six weeks to one year after childbirth.
“Pregnancy-related death is a major public health concern in the US,” the authors write. “Our analysis provides important insights that should inform the shared goal of preventing avoidable pregnancy-related deaths in the US.”
In addition to researchers at the National Institutes of Health, the authors included scholars from Harvard Medical School, Technical University Munich in Germany, and two Boston-based hospitals.