A recent research discovered that the elevated and growing levels of maternal deaths in the United States are a result of incorrect data.
The high rates of maternal fatalities in the U.S. compared to other nations are linked to flawed data, according to a study. published Wednesday in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology, found that data may have been classified incorrectly for two decades.
The increasing number of women dying after childbirth has raised concerns about care in the U.S. While previous estimates suggest a doubling of the maternal mortality rate in the last two decades, the study revealed that it has remained steady.
In 2003, the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) suggested adding “pregnancy” to a checklist on a person’s death certificate to track maternal deaths.
Following the update, there was a significant rise in maternal mortality rates, which led to “severe errors,” including listing hundreds of individuals over 70 as pregnant at the time of death or shortly before. If the pregnant box was checked, deaths from other causes would be considered maternal mortality.
NCHS later clarified that only women aged 15 to 44 should be in the category, aiming to reduce errors in the future. Women over 44 could be included if there was a specific cause of death related to pregnancy. Otherwise, the agency continued to count women of childbearing age the same as before.
Despite the changes, reports still indicate increased maternal mortality rates or a rise in misclassified maternal deaths.
When death certificates list pregnancy among multiple causes of death, researchers found that maternal mortality rates decrease and stabilize over time.
The study highlighted that “significant racial and ethnic gaps in maternal mortality persist.” There were notably higher maternal death rates among Black women, with considerable differences seen in causes of death like ectopic pregnancies, hypertensive disorders, embolism, cardiomyopathy and other cardiovascular diseases.
Using the new tracking method, researchers determined that from 1999 to 2002, maternal mortality rates in the U.S. were 10.2 per 100,000 live births. From 2018 to 2021, it was 10.4, a 2 percent increase.
