New data shows that the number of deaths among pregnant women in the United States fell to 2022 from six decades ago.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 1,200 U.S. mothers died in 2021 while pregnant or shortly after childbirth. The final tally was released Thursday. According to preliminary agency data , there were 733 maternal fatalities in 2022. However, the final number will likely be higher.
Officials claim that the 2022 maternal mortality rate will be close to pre-pandemic levels. However, it’s not the best: It was at its highest level in decades before Covid.
“From the very worst to the most awful? Omari Maynard, a New Yorker who lost her partner in childbirth in 2019, said that it was not exactly an accomplishment.
The CDC lists women who die during pregnancy, childbirth, and up to 42 days following birth. The most common causes are excessive bleeding, blood vessel blockages, and infections.
Covid is particularly dangerous for pregnant women. Experts believe that it was the primary reason for the 2021 spike. Advocates suggested that burnt-out doctors may have increased the risk by not listening to pregnant women’s concerns.
There were 33 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births in 2021. This rate was last recorded by the government in 1964.
Eugene Declercq of Boston University, a long-standing researcher on maternal mortality, said that the cause “isn’t that difficult to explain.” “The surge was Covid-related.”
Previous government analysis found that 25% of maternal death in 2020 or 2021 was Covid-related. This means that the whole increase in maternal mortality in 2020 or 2021 was due to the coronavirus epidemics and the wider health care system’s impact. According to a recently published study by BMJ Global Health, pregnant women with coronavirus infection were almost 8 times more likely to die than their uninfected peers.
Pregnant women already feel strain on their bodies, which makes it harder for their hearts to pump. Their condition can be made more fragile by other health issues. The March of Dimes’ chief medical officer and health officer, Dr. Elizabeth Cherot said that “Covid” will make their condition even worse.
It was disappointing that 2021 vaccination rates for pregnant women, especially Black women, were so low. This was partly due to the limited availability of vaccines and the fact that until August 2021, the CDC didn’t recommend full vaccinations for pregnant women.
Samantha Griffin, who runs a doula agency that serves mostly families of color in Washington, D.C., stated, “Initially there were a lot of mistrust about the vaccine in Black communities.”
She and others said that there is more to it. In 2021, the maternal mortality rate for Black women was almost three times that of white women. The maternal death rate of Hispanic American mothers in 2021 was 54% higher than that of 2020. This also exceeded the white mother’s death rate.
A lot of nurses and doctors felt burnt out after the pandemic. They also saw less patients in person.
Griffin stated that at the time, providers were “needing to take snap decisions and perhaps not listening as much to their patients.” “Women were saying they believed something was wrong, and they weren’t being heard.”
Maynard, a 41-year-old Brooklyn resident, stated that he and his partner had experienced this in 2019.
Shamony Gibson, a healthy 30-year old, was ready to have their second baby. She was happy until her contractions stopped progressing, and she had to have a Cesarean section.
Although the operation was more complicated than they expected, their son Khari was born in September. Maynard stated that Shamony started complaining of chest pains and breathlessness a few days later. He said that doctors advised her to relax and allow her body to recover from the pregnancy.
Her health deteriorated more than a week after she gave birth and she begged to be admitted to the hospital. Her heart stopped and her loved ones called for help. Maynard stated that Gibson did not use illicit drugs and that this was the initial concern for firefighters and paramedics.
She was taken to the hospital and died from a blood clot in her lungs the next day. Her son was only 13 days old.
Maynard, an artist now doing speaking engagements for maternal health advocates, said that she wasn’t being heard.
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