Okay so the doom and gloom of our infant mortality rates in the US caused me to wonder about the maternal morbidity rates- so here is the news on that...
"Article Date: 29 Aug 2007 - 3:00 PDT
The maternal mortality rate in the U.S. is the highest it has been in decades, according to statistics released this week by CDC's National Center for Health Statistics, the AP/Washington Post reports. According to the figures, the U.S. maternal mortality rate was 13 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2004. The rate was 12 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2003 -- the first year the maternal death rate was more than 10 since 1977 (Stobbe, AP/Washington Post, 8/24). A total of 540 women were reported to have died of maternal causes in 2004, 45 more than were reported in 2003, according to the report (NCHS report, 8/21)."
And the full article can be found
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/80743.php
They state the reasons are high rates of cesareans causing excessive bleeding. Other causes seem to highlight that same disparity of economics and race as a factor in poor health care. Obesity is a factor due to diabetes and the need for my cesarean births. And this is only the reported deaths that were actually related to pregnancy issues.
What the heck are we doing wrong? How is this ever going to be better if we keep following the same path?
One article from 2005 stated that, "Throughout the 20th century, maternal mortality in the United States gradually went from 900 deaths per 100,00 live births to about 10, noted Dr. Berg, who is a medical epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta. "But in the past 20 years, there hasn't been a meaningful drop."
20 years and no significant drop? Has medicine not improved health care for pregnant women during that time? There seems to be a correlation in most every article I read about mother morbidity and cesarean births- and yet we keep having an incline in cesarean rates... is someone going to wake up and see that this must change!
2 comments:
As long as women keep paying OB's and OB's keep convincing them that they "need" inductions, and "need" cesareans it's only going to get worse.
Apple I think that is part of it. I think women are their worst advocates. They are begging for inductions as well. They like knowing they can pick their baby's birth date... not longer be pregnant... get it over with... and doctors are more than willing to appease them. Yes I think some doctors- maybe a lot- motivate the women to do this out of fear and manipulation. But women need to take responsibility along with the care providers.
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