Over 90% of pregnancy-related deaths can be prevented as Black women continue to record mortality higher rates, according to a new study.
Released last week by the Illinois Department of Public Health, the Illinois Maternal Morbidity and Mortality Report found that approximately 91% of pregnancy-related deaths were attributed to clinical, social, community, system or patient issues that could have been avoided.
Per the report, on average, 88 women pass away each year after being pregnant or within one year of being pregnant. During the pandemic, maternal mortality increased by approximately 40% as 110 women passed away in 2020.
Black women continued to pass away at higher rates. Overall, Black women were twice as likely to pass away from a pregnancy-related condition and three times as likely to pass away from a pregnancy-related medical condition when compared to white women.
Discrimination was found to be a prominent contributing factor to these higher rates. Per the report, 50% of pregnancy-related deaths amongst Black women were because of discrimination. Amongst these women, 47% said that they experience some form of discrimination due to race, language or structural racism in the healthcare system.
Illinois Department of Public Health releases the 3rd edition of the Illinois Maternal Morbidity and Mortality Report (2018-2020). Check out the image for more details. #IDPH #MaternalMorbidityMortalityReport #Health pic.twitter.com/7JAjnSiOqP
— IDPH (@IDPH) October 24, 2023
“We continue to see inequities in maternal mortality for Black women and women with lower socioeconomic status.The challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic affected pregnant women and families in many ways and the data in this report begins to demonstrate the extent of that impact,” wrote Director Sameer Vohra, MD, JD, MA per the report. “We continue to see disconnected, siloed health services, programs, and systems as a factor contributing to many maternal deaths.”
The results of the study come amidst a new investigation by the state Department of Justice which found that California medical leaders were not actively working to eliminate biases that contribute to high rates of pregnancy-related deaths amongst Black mothers.
According to their report, the DOJ found that less than 17% of hospitals had enforced the “implicit bias training” mandated by the state when it came to pregnancy and childbirth professionals.
After the agency contacted the hospitals, almost one-third of the hospitals began to launch their training programs.
The training programs were first created in 2019 by Los Angeles County Supervisor Holly Mitchell under the SB 464 act. Per the Los Angeles Times, Mitchell created the training programs after seeing that there were misconceptions that were persistent among medical students.
Amongst the misconceptions were that Black women had a “higher pain threshold.”
With the training content, the state officials are aiming to have medical professionals identify any unconscious bias and take measures to reduce both personal and institutional biases. The training content also helps ensure that professionals know about the historical oppressions in the medical world when it comes to BIPOC patients.
