Pregnancy-related deaths in the United States have returned to pre-pandemic levels, new government data suggests.
About 680 women died during pregnancy or shortly after giving birth last year, according to preliminary data from the CDC. This is down from 817 deaths in 2022 and 1,205 in 2021, which were the highest levels in more than 50 years.
Donna Hoyert, a maternal mortality researcher at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said COVID-19 appears to be the main cause of this improvement.
U.S. births will drop significantly in 2023, ending a rebound in the second half of the pandemic, experts say
Coronavirus can be especially dangerous for pregnant women. And during the worst of the pandemic, experts say burnt-out doctors may have ignored pregnant women’s concerns, putting them at even higher risk.
The number of death certificates citing COVID-19 as the cause of pregnancy-related deaths is decreasing. That number was more than 400 in 2021, but less than 10 last year, Hoyert said.
The agency released a report Thursday detailing final maternal mortality data for 2022. It also recently released preliminary data for 2023. These figures are expected to change after further analysis, with the final figure for 2022 being 11% higher than the provisional figure. Still, 2023 will be lower than 2022, Hoyert said.
October 11, 2012, in a room in the maternity ward of a Mississippi hospital. Pregnancy-related deaths in the United States will return to pre-pandemic levels in 2023, according to data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on May 2, 2024. . (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis, File)
The CDC counts women who die from conditions considered pregnancy-related during pregnancy, childbirth, and up to 42 days after birth. Excessive bleeding, blood vessel occlusion, and infection are the main causes.
According to preliminary data, there will be approximately 19 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births in 2023. This is consistent with the rates seen in 2018 and 2019.
But racial disparities persist, with black mothers dying at a rate more than 2.5 times higher than white and Hispanic mothers.
“Over the past five years, our country has made no progress in reducing maternal mortality rates, so there’s still a lot of work to do,” said Ashley Stoneburner, director of applied research and analysis at the March of Dimes. Ta.
Advocacy groups this week launched an effort to educate more pregnant women to consider taking low-dose aspirin if they are at risk for pre-eclampsia, a high blood pressure condition that can harm both mother and baby. The campaign has started.
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Dr. Laura Riley, a New York City obstetrician who treats high-risk conditions, says increased efforts to fight infections and address blood loss may be helping to reduce pregnancy-related deaths and lingering health problems. He said there are other initiatives as well. pregnancy.
But these improvements risk being offset by a number of factors that can reduce women’s ability to access health care before, during and after childbirth, she said. Experts say the list includes local hospital closures, a 2022 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that abolished federally established abortion rights, and a 2022 U.S. Supreme Court decision that eliminated the ability of doctors to provide emergency pregnancy-related care. It is said that this makes doctors feel constrained and contributes to burnout among doctors.
“I think it’s good news. We’re making progress in certain areas,” said Riley, chief obstetrician and gynecologist at Weill Cornell Medicine. “But the bad news, and the scary news…is that there are other political and social forces that are making this (reducing maternal mortality) difficult.”
