Current:Home > InvestPregnancy-related deaths fall to pre-pandemic levels, new CDC data shows-LoTradeCoin
Pregnancy-related deaths fall to pre-pandemic levels, new CDC data shows
View Date:2024-12-23 16:25:59
U.S. pregnancy-related deaths have fallen back to pre-pandemic levels, new government data suggests.
About 680 women died last year during pregnancy or shortly after childbirth, according to provisional CDC data. That's down from 817 deaths in 2022 and 1,205 in 2021, when it was the highest level in more than 50 years.
COVID-19 seems to be the main explanation for the improvement, said Donna Hoyert, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention maternal mortality researcher.
The coronavirus can be particularly dangerous to pregnant women. And, in the worst days of the pandemic, burned out physicians may have added to the risk by ignoring pregnant women's worries, experts say.
Fewer death certificates are mentioning COVID-19 as a contributor to pregnancy-related deaths. The count was over 400 in 2021 but fewer than 10 last year, Hoyert said.
The agency on Thursday released a report detailing the final maternal mortality data for 2022. It also recently released provisional data for 2023. Those numbers are expected to change after further analysis — the final 2022 number was 11% higher than the provisional one. Still, 2023 is expected to end up down from 2022, Hoyert said.
The CDC counts women who die while pregnant, during childbirth and up to 42 days after birth from conditions considered related to pregnancy. Excessive bleeding, blood vessel blockages and infections are leading causes.
There were about 19 maternal deaths for every 100,000 live births in 2023, according to the provisional data. That's in line with rates seen in 2018 and 2019.
But racial disparities remain: The death rate in Black moms is more than two-and-a-half times higher than that of white and Hispanic mothers.
"In the last five years we've really not improved on lowering the maternal death rate in our country, so there's still a lot of work to do," said Ashley Stoneburner, the March of Dimes' director of applied research and analytics.
The advocacy organization this week kicked off an education campaign to get more pregnant women to consider taking low-dose aspirin if they are at risk of preeclempsia — a high blood pressure disorder that can harm both the mother and baby.
There are other efforts that may be helping to lower deaths and lingering health problems related to pregnancy, including stepped-up efforts to fight infections and address blood loss, said Dr. Laura Riley, a New York City-based obstetrician who handles high-risk pregnancies.
But there's a risk that those kinds of improvements are being offset by a number of factors that may reduce the ability of women to get medical care before, during and after a birth, she said. Experts say the list includes the closure of rural hospitals and a 2022 U.S. Supreme Court decision that did away with the federally established right to abortion — and contributed to physician burnout by causing doctors to feel constrained about providing care during pregnancy-related medical emergencies.
"I think there's good news. We're making strides in certain areas," said Riley, head OB-GYN at Weill Cornell Medicine. "But the bad news and scary news is ... there are these other political and social forces that make this (reducing maternal deaths) difficult."
- In:
- Health
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- Pregnancy
veryGood! (65255)
Related
- Army veteran reunites with his K9 companion, who served with him in Afghanistan
- NFL mock draft 2024: Patriots in position for QB Drake Maye, Jayden Daniels lands in Round 1
- Jonathan Majors' ex Grace Jabbari testifies on actor's 'violent temper': 'I had to be perfect'
- Sabrina Carpenter and Saltburn Actor Barry Keoghan Step Out for Dinner Together in Los Angeles
- Dick Van Dyke says he 'fortunately' won't be around for Trump's second presidency
- Senator: Washington selects 4 Amtrak routes for expansion priorities
- CVS is switching up how it pays for prescriptions. Will it save you money?
- Horoscopes Today, December 5, 2023
- Top Federal Reserve official defends central bank’s independence in wake of Trump win
- MLB Winter Meetings: Live free agency updates, trade rumors, Shohei Ohtani news
Ranking
- Inflation ticked up in October, CPI report shows. What happens next with interest rates?
- House explodes as police in Arlington, Virginia, try to execute search warrant, officials say
- Teen Mom's Kailyn Lowry Shows Off Evolution of Her Baby Bump While Pregnant With Twins
- Powerball winning numbers for December 4th drawing: Jackpot now at $435 million
- Tesla issues 6th Cybertruck recall this year, with over 2,400 vehicles affected
- Patients expected Profemur artificial hips to last. Then they snapped in half.
- Maduro orders the ‘immediate’ exploitation of oil, gas and mines in Guyana’s Essequibo
- RHOC Alum Alexis Bellino Is Dating Shannon Beador's Ex John Janssen
Recommendation
-
Anti-abortion advocates press Trump for more restrictions as abortion pill sales spike
-
Shohei Ohtani met Los Angeles manager Dave Roberts at Dodger Stadium
-
Deputy fired and arrested after video shows him punch man he chased in South Carolina
-
What does the NCAA proposal to pay players mean for college athletics?
-
Sister Wives’ Meri Brown Shares Hysterical Farmers Only Dating Profile Video After Kody Split
-
Bengals-Jaguars Monday Night Football highlights: Cincy wins in OT; Trevor Lawrence hurt
-
A woman has died and 2 people have been wounded in a shooting in east London, police say
-
US officials want ships to anchor farther from California undersea pipelines, citing 2021 oil spill