March 16, 2023 – Pregnancy-related deaths have increased by as much as 40% in the course of the pandemic, with that increase entirely because of COVID-19, two latest reports show. The increase in deaths was most pronounced amongst Black moms.
In 2021, 1,205 women died from pregnancy-related causes, making the yr one among the worst by way of maternal mortality in U.S. history, in response to a newly released CDC dataMaternal mortality is defined as deaths occurring while pregnant, childbirth, or shortly after birth.
COVID was the rationale for the increased death rate, in response to a study published on Thursday within the magazine Obstetrics and Gynecology. The researchers found that unvaccinated pregnant women usually tend to develop severe COVID and that prenatal and postnatal care was disrupted early within the pandemic. From July 2021 to March 2023, the speed of girls vaccinated before pregnancy increased from 22% to 70%. CDC data shows.
Black women saw the most important increase in maternal mortality rates, reaching nearly 70 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2021, 2.6 times the speed for white women.
Existing risks because of maternal age also increased from 2020 to 2021. Maternal mortality rates by age in 2021 per 100,000 live births were:
- 20.4 for girls under 25
- 31.3 for girls aged 25 to 39
- 138.5 for girls aged 40 and over.
The chairman of the skilled association of gynecologists called the situation “shocking” and “avoidable”.
The findings “send a clear message that maternal health and evidence-based efforts to eliminate racial health disparities must be and remain a top public health priority,” said Iffath Abbasi Hoskins, MD, president of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, in a opinion.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has had a dramatic and tragic impact on maternal mortality rates, but we must not allow this fact to obscure the fact that there was already – and still is – a maternal mortality crisis that will only get worse,” she said.