Pregnancy-Related Mortality in the U.S. Still Has Preventable Causes

Maternal mortality in the U.S. has doubled within the last 2 decades, rising to 17.8 deaths per 100,000 live births. To assess major causes of pregnancy-related mortality, investigators reviewed 207 deaths of women during or within 1 year of pregnancy in California from 2002 through 2005.

Cardiovascular disease, eclampsia, hemorrhage, venous thromboembolism, and amniotic fluid embolism were the leading causes of death, with the most common risk factor being obesity. Primiparous women were more likely to die from eclampsia and grand multiparous women from hemorrhage or venous or amniotic thromboembolism. All-cause mortality was 4 times higher among black women and 10 times higher among women with cardiovascular disease. Forty-one percent of d…