High and rising U.S. maternal mortality rates are due to flawed data, study shows

A new study finds that high and rising maternal mortality rates in the United States are due to flaws in data.

Although the maternal mortality crisis in the United States indicates a high maternal mortality rate compared to other countries, this study found that Published on Wednesday The Journal of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists found that data may have been misclassified for two decades.

In the United States, the number of women dying after childbirth is worrying and raising questions about their care. Previous estimates have shown that maternal mortality rates have more than doubled over the past 20 years, but the new study found that the rate has remained stable.

In 2003, the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) recommended adding “pregnancy” to the death certificate checklist as a way to track maternal deaths.

Maternal mortality rates have risen sharply since the checklist was updated, but as a result, “several egregious mistakes were made”, including hundreds of people over 70 being listed as pregnant at or just before death. ” occurred. If the pregnancy box is checked, deaths from other causes are considered maternal deaths.

NCHS later clarified that only women between the ages of 15 and 44 were included in this category, hoping that future mistakes would be minimized. Women aged 44 and older may also be counted if there are certain causes of death related to pregnancy. Otherwise, authorities counted women of childbearing age as before.

Researchers found that despite the changes, the report still showed an increase in maternal mortality rates and an increase in misclassified maternal deaths.

Researchers found that maternal mortality rates decreased and stabilized over time when death certificates listed pregnancy among multiple causes of death.

The study notes that “significant racial and ethnic disparities in maternal mortality rates continue to exist.” Researchers found that maternal mortality rates were disproportionately high among black women, with significant differences in causes of death including ectopic pregnancy, hypertensive disorders, embolism, cardiomyopathy, and other cardiovascular diseases. did.

Using the new tracking method, researchers found that the U.S. maternal mortality rate from 1999 to 2002 was 10.2 deaths per 100,000 live births. From 2018 to 2021 it was 10.4, an increase of 2%.