What We Can Do about Maternal Mortality: And How to Do It Quickly
(N Engl J Med. 2018;379:1689–1691)
Recent reports in the lay media have discussed increasing maternal mortality in the United States. In fact, women in the United States are more likely to die from childbirth-related or pregnancy-related causes than women in other high-income countries, with black women dying at a rate 3 to 4 times that of white women. Furthermore, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have identified 3 types of preventable complications: postpartum hemorrhage, severe hypertension, and venous thromboembolism. In this perspective article, the authors discussed 4 actions by which the health care community can reverse this trend of increasing pregnancy-related deaths.
Recent reports in the lay media have discussed increasing maternal mortality in the United States. In fact, women in the United States are more likely to die from childbirth-related or pregnancy-related causes than women in other high-income countries, with black women dying at a rate 3 to 4 times that of white women. Furthermore, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have identified 3 types of preventable complications: postpartum hemorrhage, severe hypertension, and venous thromboembolism. In this perspective article, the authors discussed 4 actions by which the health care community can reverse this trend of increasing pregnancy-related deaths.
Keywords: Maternal morbidity and mortality; Systems-based practice
Document Type: Research Article
Affiliations: Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
Publication date: 01 March 2019
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