US Maternal Death Rate on the Rise

Globally, maternal mortality rate has been on the decline. Accelerated decreases in maternal mortality were seen in China, Egypt, Ecuador, and Bolivia.  Unfortunately, an increase was observed in the United States, Canada and Denmark, according to a report released online April 12 in The Lancet.

Margaret C. Hogan, MSc, from the School of Public Health University of Washington in Seattle and colleagues analyzed a database of 2651 observations of maternal mortality from 181 countries from 1980 to 2008 and found the total maternal deaths dropped to 342,900 in 2008 from 526,300 in 1980.

The maternal mortality rate (MMR) worldwide since 1990 was 1.3% annually or the MMR dropped from 422 per 100,000 live births in 1980 to 320 per 100,000 live births in 1990 to 251 per 100,000 liver births in 2008.

In the United States, the MMR increased 42 percent from 12 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births in 1990 to 17 in 2008.

Early reports say that the mortality rate for infants aged 6 months or younger in the United States has been among the highest.

The United States spends $7,700 per year per capita on health care, the highest among all nations. Critics say the health care reform bill will increase the medical expenditure. Early it was projected that by 2015, one in every 5 dollars in the United States will be used for health care.

Jimmy Downs