TY - JOUR
T1 - Causes contributing to the excess maternal mortality risk for women 35 and over, United States, 2016–2017
AU - MacDorman, Marian F.
AU - Thoma, Marie
AU - Declercq, Eugene
AU - Howell, Elizabeth A.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 MacDorman et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
PY - 2021/6
Y1 - 2021/6
N2 - To better understand age-related disparities in US maternal mortality, we analyzed 2016–2017 vital statistics mortality data with cause-of-death literal text (actual words written on the death certificate) added. We created a subset of confirmed maternal deaths which had pregnancy mentions in the cause-of-death literals. Primary cause of death was identified and recoded using cause-of-death literals. Age-related disparities were examined both overall and by primary cause. Compared to women <35, the 2016–2017 US maternal mortality rate was twice as high for women aged 35–39, four times higher for women aged 40–44, and 11 times higher for women aged 45–54 years. Obstetric hemorrhage was the leading cause of death for women aged 35+ with rates 4 times higher than for women <35, followed by postpartum cardiomyopathy with a 3-fold greater risk. Obstetric embolism, eclampsia/preeclampsia, and Other complications of obstetric surgery and procedures each had a twofold greater risk of death for women aged 35+. Together these 5 causes of death accounted for 70.9% of the elevated maternal mortality risk for women aged 35+. The excess maternal mortality risk for women aged 35+ was focused among a few causes of death and much of this excess mortality is preventable. Early detection and treatment, as well as continued care during the postpartum year is critical to preventing these deaths. The Alliance for Innovation on Maternal Health has promulgated patient safety bundles with specific interventions that health care systems can adopt in an effort to prevent these deaths.
AB - To better understand age-related disparities in US maternal mortality, we analyzed 2016–2017 vital statistics mortality data with cause-of-death literal text (actual words written on the death certificate) added. We created a subset of confirmed maternal deaths which had pregnancy mentions in the cause-of-death literals. Primary cause of death was identified and recoded using cause-of-death literals. Age-related disparities were examined both overall and by primary cause. Compared to women <35, the 2016–2017 US maternal mortality rate was twice as high for women aged 35–39, four times higher for women aged 40–44, and 11 times higher for women aged 45–54 years. Obstetric hemorrhage was the leading cause of death for women aged 35+ with rates 4 times higher than for women <35, followed by postpartum cardiomyopathy with a 3-fold greater risk. Obstetric embolism, eclampsia/preeclampsia, and Other complications of obstetric surgery and procedures each had a twofold greater risk of death for women aged 35+. Together these 5 causes of death accounted for 70.9% of the elevated maternal mortality risk for women aged 35+. The excess maternal mortality risk for women aged 35+ was focused among a few causes of death and much of this excess mortality is preventable. Early detection and treatment, as well as continued care during the postpartum year is critical to preventing these deaths. The Alliance for Innovation on Maternal Health has promulgated patient safety bundles with specific interventions that health care systems can adopt in an effort to prevent these deaths.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85108957354&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0253920
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0253920
M3 - Article
C2 - 34185810
AN - SCOPUS:85108957354
SN - 1932-6203
VL - 16
JO - PLoS ONE
JF - PLoS ONE
IS - 6 June 2021
M1 - e0253920
ER -