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The COVID-19 pandemic contributed to the higher rate in 2020 and 2021:
An increasing number of U.S. women are dying during pregnancy or soon after giving birth, according to the latest data on the maternal mortality rate.
In 2021, there were 32.9 deaths per 100,000 live births, compared with 23.8 per 100,000 in 2020 and 20.1 in 2019, the National Center for Health Statistics reports March 16. The U.S. rate greatly exceeds those of other high-income countries. The total number of U.S. maternal deaths rose from 861 in 2020 to 1,205 in 2021.
There remains a wide disparity in the maternal mortality rate for Black women, at 69.9 deaths per 100,000 live births, compared with white women, at 26.6 per 100,000. Many social determinants of health underlie this gap, including differences in the quality of care that Black women receive before, during and after pregnancy.
The NCHS report doesn't discuss the reasons behind the increase for 2021. But COVID-19 contributed to a quarter of maternal deaths in 2020 and 2021, the U.S. Government Accountability Office reported in October. The pandemic also contributed to the mortality disparity between Black and white women, the GAO found, worsening existing structural inequities that lead to such issues as barriers to getting health care (SN: 4/10/20).
The U.S. maternal mortality rate has risen overall since 2018. The highest rate is among non-Hispanic Black women compared with Hispanic women and non-Hispanic white women.
The maternal deaths captured by the NCHS report are those that occur during pregnancy or within 42 days of the end of the pregnancy, "from any cause related to or aggravated by the pregnancy or its management." These causes include hemorrhaging, infections and high blood pressure disorders such as eclampsia.
The report excludes deaths after 42 days and up to the first year after birth. But 30 percent of pregnancy-related deaths occur during this period, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported in September, from an analysis of the years 2017 to 2019.
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Monday March 20 2023, @06:23PM (1 child)
Really? You believe that Europeans don't give birth in hospitals? These deaths all come from lack of prenatal care, which the poor simply don't get in the US. Medicaid is a joke that most doctors refuse. In Europe, they consider health care to be a human right, as anyone with any empathy whatever does. "Can't afford the doctor? Fuck 'em, let 'em die" is the American way!
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(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Monday March 20 2023, @07:09PM
We had insurance, prenatal care from "the BEST" OB office available in Miami, and they still f-ed up their scripts and we ended up with 10 days between visits when the schedule was 7, would have (likely) caught the issue at day 7 with minimal problems, mom likely would have died if we waited until our appointment on day 10, we presented on the morning of day 9: mom was blind (due to elevated blood pressure pinching the optic nerves...) "Why didn't you tell us about these symptoms and to call when we saw them?" "Oh, it's 'so rare!!!' we don't want to un-necessarily scare moms to-be" - rates I read were like 1/80 overall, more like 1/40 in our age bracket. You are right: without pre-natal care the risk for these complications turning into deaths are much higher.
I wasn't trying to imply that Europeans (Australians, Koreans (South at least), Thai, most Indians, etc.) don't give birth in Hospitals. Was trying to imply that only U.S. hospitals are set up as for-profit institutions which manage their "product" (aka patients) to maximize profits.
>Fuck 'em, let 'em die" is the American way!
Not just for medicine, also for worker safety, environmental pollution, food and housing security, mental health, gun safety, etc.
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