One-Third of Maternal Deaths in the U.S. Occur Long After Delivery
Originally published by Roni Caryn Rabin for the New York Times
During a recent five-year period, a substantial portion of maternal deaths in America — almost one-third — took place more than six weeks after childbirth, at a time when most new mothers think they are in the clear, researchers reported on Wednesday.
The study, published in JAMA Network Open, is one of the first to track maternal health complications during pregnancy and in the year after delivery.
Pregnancy-related death rates in the United States rose almost 28 percent from 2018 to 2022, the researchers found, surging at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2021 before subsiding somewhat.