Racial Disparities in Obstetric Outcomes: We Still Have Work to Do

Racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic disparities in healthcare are widespread. In some fields, across-the-board improvements in quality have resulted in concurrent reductions in outcome disparities — but whether this is true in obstetrics remains largely untested. Investigators used nationally representative data to explore trends in obstetric healthcare quality and outcomes.

From 2000 through 2009, notable improvements occurred in obstetric care quality (as indicated by decreases in rates of severe perineal lacerations and neonatal birth trauma) for both black women and white women. Nevertheless, maternal and neonatal mortality (as well as racial disparities in these outcomes) remained largely unchanged. In 2009, inpatient maternal death rates…