Recent research indicates efforts to improve maternal health in the U.S. have largely failed, with the maternal mortality rate more than doubling over the past two decades amid vast disparities between racial and ethnic groups. [ US News] 

Maternal mortality in the U.S. has gotten worse in recent decades, a study shows, particularly for Native and Black women.

READ: Maternal Deaths Rose During Pandemic

Findings from a novel state-by-state analysis of maternal deaths, published this month in JAMA, show the rate of death among people 10 to 54 years old who were either pregnant or had been pregnant within the past year rose from 12.7 deaths per 100,000 live births in 1999 to 32.2 deaths per 100,000 in 2019, with total maternal deaths increasing from 505 to 1,210. Between the decades of 1999 to 2009 and 2010 to 2019, the study found increases in maternal mortality rates across nearly all states and among all racial and ethnic groups.

Across the five racial and ethnic groups included, the study’s estimates show American Indian and Alaska Native females, as well as Black females, had the highest maternal mortality rates in 2019, along with the largest absolute mortality rate increases since 1999. Among American Indians and Alaska Natives, the national maternal mortality rate more than tripled over the two decades studied – from 19 deaths per 100,000 live births in 1999 to 69.3 per 100,000 in 2019 – while maternal mortality among Black women more than doubled, from 31.4 to 67.6.

Among whites, the maternal mortality rate also roughly tripled, from 9.2 to 27.9. Similar patterns were found when examining median maternal mortality rates across states.

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If you are interested in more information about IOMC's Maternal Health and Child Workgroup, please contact IOMC at iomcstaff@iomc.org

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