The rate of maternal mortality in the U.S. increased by nearly 20% from 2019 to 2020 in a potential indication of the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on maternal health outcomes.
In total, 861 women in 2020 reportedly died either during or within 42 days of their pregnancy in the U.S., compared with 754 women in 2019 and 658 in 2018.
The report’s findings are based on data collected from the CDC’s National Vital Statistics System, and encompass maternal deaths linked to a pregnancy or its management. Deaths from accidental or incidental causes are not included.
Maternal mortality rates in 2020 increased across all age and racial groups in the report, with the overall surge fueled heavily by a spike in the rates for both Hispanic and Black women. Black women had the highest maternal mortality rate of the three racial or ethnic groups included in the report, at 55.3 deaths for every 100,000 live births. That rate was nearly three times higher than the 19.1 deaths per 100,000 births among white women – a larger disparity than in 2019 – and more than three times higher than the rate of 18.2 deaths per 100,000 among Hispanic women.
Yet the maternal death rate among Hispanic women saw the largest increase from 2019 to 2020, rising by 44% over that year compared with increases of 26% among Black women and 7% among white women.
By age, women 40 and older had both the highest mortality rate and the largest increase from 2019. The maternal mortality rate for women 40 and older was 107.9 deaths for every 100,000 live births in 2020, a 43% increase from 2019 and 7.8 times higher than the rate of 13.8 per 100,000 live births for women under the age of 25.
For years, the U.S. has had what can only be described as a poor record in maternal health outcomes when compared with other wealthy nations. A 2020 analysis by The Commonwealth Fund found that the 2018 U.S. maternal mortality rate of 17.4 deaths for every 100,000 live births was more than double the recent rates of a majority of other developed countries studied.
Tracking data from the CDC shows 82 deaths among pregnant women with the disease reportedly occurred in 2020. And though the latest figures do not delineate whether deaths occurred in connection with COVID-19, they come amid concern about both the direct and indirect health risks the COVID-19 pandemic has posed for pregnant women.
The CDC warns that pregnant or recently pregnant people are more likely to become severely ill from COVID-19. A CDC study published in November and focused on Mississippi also found a higher mortality rate among women with a coronavirus infection during pregnancy – none of whom had been fully vaccinated – compared with females of reproductive age who had a coronavirus infection.
“When we think about all of the stressors that a person felt even prior to the pandemic, adding all of these other things on top, it’s no surprise that we see an additive effect of the pandemic causing feelings of unsafety,” says Kristina Wint, senior program manager for reproductive and maternal health and wellness at the Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs. “Many people think that televisits is something that has been filling in the gaps, and it absolutely has, but they are just a Band-Aid on a broader and bigger issue on how (we can) ensure that people are able to access the care that they need.”