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Maternal Deaths in the U.S. have Shot-up Since 2003: Study

Maternal Deaths During Childbirth Have Increased in the U.S. Since 2003
(Photo : Flickr) Maternal Deaths During Childbirth Have Increased in the U.S. Since 2003

Maternal deaths in the U.S have increased in the last 10 years similar to the trends observed in other countries in Africa, Asia and Central America, according to a study.

Researchers from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington observed causes and the incidence of maternal mortality around the globe and found the U.S had an alarming increase in the number of deaths since 2003.  The country is in the 60th position in the list of 180 countries with surging incidences of deaths of women during childbirth and pregnancy.

The reports revealed 18.5 deaths for every 100,000 births in 2013 in the U.S. which is twice the number of nations like Saudi Arabia, Canada and U.K having the figures 7, 8.2 and 6.1, respectively.  It was observed women aged between 20 and 24 constituted a large portion of population that succumbed to various health conditions during pregnancy and childbirth. Nearly 7.2 women of this age group died during 1990 compared to 14 deaths recorded in 2013 for 100,000 live births.

The study explained number factors like limited access to health care services and facilities, increasing number of C-section births and health conditions like obesity and diabetes, which may have contributed for death of mothers. These variables differ from country- to-country.

"For American women, high-risk pregnancies and the number of women with inadequate access to preventive and maternal health care are just two potential causes of this trend," Nicholas Kassebaum, study author and assistant Professor at IHME said in a news release. "The good news is that most maternal deaths are preventable, and we can do better."

The findings suggest even though the overall maternal deaths fell between the years 1990 and 2013, nearly 290,000 women died in 2013. Majority of deaths occur due to birthing and post-natal complications and almost a quarter of women die in childbirth and 24 hours later. In addition, the authors noticed these deaths occurred even after the increase in expenditure on maternal and child care since 2000. This demonstrates the death rates can be brought down only with continued increase in investments.

"There's no reason that a country with the resources and the medical expertise that the US has should see maternal deaths going up," said Dr. Christopher Murray, Director of IHME and a co-founder of the Global Burden of Disease. "The next step would be to examine local-level differences in maternal deaths to look for patterns and the drivers behind those patterns."

More information is available online in the journal The Lancet.

May 03, 2014 09:09 AM EDT

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