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PHOM Indicator Profile Report of Maternal mortality

Why Is This Important?

Approximately 700 women die each year in the United States as a result of pregnancy or delivery complications. The death of a woman during pregnancy, delivery, or after delivery is a tragedy for her family and for society as a whole (CDC). Surveillance of maternal mortality identifies ways to improve one's health, health behaviors, and health care before, during, and after pregnancy. Surveillance also identifies gaps in the health care system, social services, health care access, and the quality of prenatal and postnatal care.

Pregnancy-related mortality ratio, Utah and U.S., 2006-2020

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The final determination about whether a death is categorized as pregnancy-related is made by the Utah Perinatal Mortality Review committee. Over time the composition of the committee and the information available has changed, affecting how deaths are categorized. In 2015, the committee began using standardized criteria to determine when an overdose or suicide death was pregnancy-related. These criteria were published in 2020 (Standardized Criteria for Review of Perinatal Suicides and Accidental Drug-Related Deaths, Smid, et al, [http://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32925616/]). Because the total number of maternal deaths is low, the change in categorization for even one death affects the mortality rate significantly.

Data Sources

  • Office of Vital Records and Statistics, Utah Department of Health
  • National Vital Statistics System, National Center for Health Statistics, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Data Notes

Maternal deaths are identified through the pregnancy checkbox or cause of death codes on death certificates, or by matching birth and death certificates. The Utah Perinatal Mortality Review Committee then determines whether each of those deaths was related to the pregnancy or not. Deaths determined to be pregnancy-related are included in the ratio.   The U.S. data shown are from the CDC Pregnancy Mortality Surveillance System (PMSS), which summarizes and analyzes maternal death certificates and matching fetal death/birth certificates from 52 reporting areas. Maternal mortality data reported by PMSS is not yet available for years after 2018. [https://www.cdc.gov/reproductivehealth/maternal-mortality/pregnancy-mortality-surveillance-system.htm] The U.S. data presented here are most comparable to the Utah data, however, the case identification and classification methodologies differ slightly.

Risk Factors

Nationally, Black women have a 3-4 times higher rate of pregnancy-related mortality than White women. Women aged 35 years or over are also at increased risk for pregnancy-related deaths. Women who received no prenatal care also had a higher risk of pregnancy-related mortality compared to those who received adequate prenatal care.

How Are We Doing?

The Utah pregnancy-related mortality ratio for 2018-2020 was 21.5 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births.

What Is Being Done?

The Utah Department of Health and Human Services conducts ongoing maternal and infant mortality surveillance through the Perinatal Mortality Review program. Public education is provided on the importance of planning for pregnancy, preconception and interconception health, and recognition and treatment of maternal anxiety and depression. The Utah Women and Newborns Quality Collaborative (UWNQC) addresses issues of quality improvement in maternal and infant health care.

Healthy People Objective: Reduce the rate of maternal mortality

U.S. Target: 11.4 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births
State Target: 11.4 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births

Date Indicator Content Last Updated: 01/20/2023


Other Views

The information provided above is from the Utah Department of Health and Human Services IBIS-PH web site (http://ibis.health.state.gov). The information published on this website may be reproduced without permission. Please use the following citation: " Retrieved Thu, 28 March 2024 13:44:17 from Utah Department of Health and Human Services, Indicator-Based Information System for Public Health Web site: http://ibis.health.state.gov ".

Content updated: Thu, 16 Mar 2023 10:46:44 MDT