Pregnancy-Associated Mortality Due to Homicide, Suicide, and Drug Overdose

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2830091?guestAccessKey=26baedba-0892-493a-af35-e89916613aea&utm_term=021125&utm_campaign=ftm_links&utm_medium=referral&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8bMDarDYmLh1QWCrhQVeQcKcAGknhzah4UdW4cHgN_zMtB6RD1c5wLCqmTfqu3n1JbQacIWfVs5LThQXEqk4p8u5oz7g&_hsmi=346888503&utm_content=tfl&utm_source=for_the_media New data on violent deaths for pregnant people in the U.S. High rates of maternal mortality have long plagued the U.S. There’s also been another problem: poor data. Until 2018, states used to have varying procedures to note on death certificates if someone was pregnant or recently had a baby. And different data sources on maternal mortality have different standards for inclusion depending on how long it had been since giving birth when somebody died. (Former STAT reporter Annalisa Merelli had a great story on this dilemma of murky data at the end of last year.) A new study, published yesterday in JAMA Network Open, attempts to clarify the problem, particularly when it comes to deaths by homicide, suicide, overdose, and firearms. Researchers analyzed all recorded deaths of pregnant people and those within one year postpartum between 2018 and 2022. Out of more than 10,700 total deaths in that timeframe, 837 were homicides, 579 suicides, 2,083 overdoses, and 851 involved guns. Rates varied substantially between states, the authors wrote. Mississippi had the highest rate of murders among pregnant people and those within a year postpartum, at 12.86 per 100,000 live births. Montana had the highest rate of suicides at 21.55 per 100,000. The state-level findings are important to establish an evidence base that can inform policy decisions, the authors write. The CDC funds state-based maternal mortality review committees that evaluate the circumstances of each death, but not every state has one, and they don’t typically look at violent deaths. “Increasingly, the reporting of those findings have become a political issue, and there have been efforts to suppress their findings,” researcher Greg Roth told Annalisa for another story. Indeed, it's uncertain what data will be collected, evaluated and reported in the future. As the CDC's website continues to be modified to comply with recent executive orders on gender, mortality review committee reports and articles are unavailable. https://www.statnews.com/2023/07/11/maternal-mortality-hard-to-measure-and-that-may-get-worse/?utm_campaign=morning_rounds&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--PsMlpXHpMoxCkFe2IkDUk--buhJ9Bt-XSl26nZdjd7AJA-C3_fS663LxY_tBxvyRm4ImHzzSoEG2UrE5N1opGJzdjoA&_hsmi=346888503&utm_content=346888503&utm_source=hs_email