Complications of childbirth: racial & ethnic disparities in severe maternal morbidity in New York State
- Collection:
- Health Policy and Services Research
- Author(s):
- Wheelock, Sophie, author Zezza, Mark, author Athens, Jessica, author
- Contributor(s):
- New York State Health Foundation, issuing body.
- Publication:
- New York, NY : New York State Health Foundation, August 2020
- Language(s):
- English
- Format:
- Text
- Subject(s):
- Healthcare Disparities Maternal Mortality Parturition New York United States
- Genre(s):
- Technical Report
- Abstract:
- The United States has a higher maternal mortality rate compared to other peer developed nations. In 2017, the rate in the U.S. was double that of countries such as Germany and Canada.3 Unfortunately, maternal death is considered the “tip of the iceberg” of an even larger body of adverse maternal events impacting women in the U.S.4,5 Prior research has found that for every maternal death, there are up to 100 occurrences of severe maternal morbidity (SMM). SMM refers to outcomes during labor and delivery (for example, complications such as respiratory distress or shock) that result in adverse short-term or long-term consequences to a woman’s health. These outcomes may be life-threatening and require the need for lifesaving procedures, such as a blood transfusion or ventilation. Preventing SMM spares women serious injury and potentially life-long health consequences. Severe maternal morbidity is a major risk factor for maternal death; therefore, preventing SMM is also a key strategy to reducing maternal mortality rates. New York State has historically had higher SMM rates than the national average. The most recent years of nationwide data show that New York State ranked in the top quartile of state SMM rates. These rates, however, do not adjust for states’ patient demographics and hospital characteristics. Still, severe maternal morbidity remains a critical issue for New York, particularly for achieving health equity. Disparities in severe maternal morbidity by race and ethnicity have been well documented in prior research, nationally and for New York State. Several studies focused on births in New York City, where minority racial and ethnic groups make up more than half of the population, also show these disparities. Importantly, many of these studies controlled for differences in health status using data on comorbidities for each pregnant woman—implying that, regardless of how healthy they were before giving birth, minority women were more likely than their white counterparts to have serious complications. Some studies also controlled for other factors, including sociodemographic characteristics, educational attainment, access to prenatal care, and neighborhood characteristics as a proxy for socioeconomic status. Even after adjusting for these factors, significant disparities in SMM rates across racial and ethnic groups remained.
- Copyright:
- Reproduced with permission of the copyright holder. Further use of the material is subject to CC BY license. (More information)
- Extent:
- 1 online resource (1 PDF file (42 pages))
- Illustrations:
- Illustrations
- NLM Unique ID:
- 9918402185906676 (See catalog record)
- Permanent Link:
- http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/9918402185906676