Safe Motherhood: Preventing Pregnancy-Related Illness and Death

	See Also: • Safe Motherhood At A Glance 2004 • Prevention Effectiveness • Reproductive Health Web Site

Approximately 6 million American women become pregnant each year, and more than 10,000 give birth each day.

• Each day in the United States, between 2 and 3 women die of pregnancy-related causes. A pregnancy-related death is one that occurs during pregnancy or within 1 year after pregnancy and is caused by pregnancy-related complications.
• The risk of pregnancy-related complications has not decreased since 1982.
• The risk of death due to pregnancy varies greatly in different racial and ethnic groups. African American women are 4 times more likely and Hispanic women are 1.7 times more likely than white women to die of pregnancy-related complications.
• Among women who become pregnant in the United States each year, at least 30% have a pregnancy-related complication.
• Childbirth is the most common reason for hospitalization in the United States, and pregnancies with complications lead to more costly hospitalizations.

Costs

In the United States, hospitalizations for pregnancy-related complications occurring before delivery account for more than 2 million hospital days each year at a cost of more than $1 billion annually. These figures exclude costs for complications during or after delivery.

CDC Goals

• To promote optimal reproductive and infant health and quality of life.
• To reduce the incidence of pregnancy-related illness and death.
• To identify risk factors for maternal illness and death.
• To examine racial disparities in pregnancy-related death rates.
• To explore ways to assist pregnant women at risk for domestic violence.

Examples of CDC Activities

With FY 2001 funding of about $6 million, CDC helped states determine which women might be at increased risk for pregnancy-related complications and what types of interventions could decrease these risks. Examples of CDC assistance include the following: 

• The Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS). CDC and state health departments use PRAMS to collect state-specific, population-based data on maternal attitudes and experiences before, during, and immediately after pregnancy. These data can be used to identify groups of women at high risk for health problems, to monitor changes in health status, and to measure progress toward goals in improving the health of mothers and infants. In 2001, CDC expanded PRAMS to include 32 states and New York City.

• Maternal and Child Health Epidemiology Program (MCHEP). Through MCHEP, CDC and the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) support state and local health departments in collecting and analyzing information to assess and protect the health of mothers and infants.
• CDC’s ongoing Pregnancy Mortality Surveillance System works with states to monitor pregnancy-related deaths and to identify risk factors for pregnancy-related deaths from specific causes. 

CDC has research under way to expand on the following activities:

• Understanding racial and ethnic differences in pregnancy-related deaths. CDC uses national data to analyze the prevalence of death due to pregnancy-related complications among women of different races. Results are being used to study risk factors for these complications among African American and Hispanic women.
• Understanding the risks of domestic violence among pregnant women. Each year, up to 300,000 pregnant women in the United States are victims of domestic violence. Violence is more common among pregnant women than many conditions for which they are routinely screened. CDC provides assistance to projects that focus on the risk of domestic violence among pregnant women and new mothers. In Alaska and Georgia, for example, PRAMS data identified a high prevalence of domestic violence among new mothers; this information was used to institute recommendations for prenatal screening and referral for victims of domestic violence.
• Evaluating changes in health care for pregnant women. In response to changes in many health care delivery systems and medical practices, CDC and its partners are investigating better ways to monitor pregnancy-related illness. Projects include examining pregnancy-related illness among Medicaid recipients in Tennessee, examining the prevalence of vaginal birth after caesarean section in Georgia, characterizing the treatment of ectopic pregnancies in a health maintenance organization in California.
• Limiting illness from infections. CDC is exploring factors associated with bacterial vaginosis, which can lead to ectopic pregnancy, premature labor, and uterine infections after pregnancy. 

 
Related Information

One or more documents on this Web page is available in Portable Document Format (PDF). You will need Acrobat Reader (a free application) to view and print these documents.

• The Burden of Chronic Diseases and Their Risk Factors: National and State Perspectives
• Exemplary State Programs — Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies (91K–PDF)

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This page last reviewed August 10, 2004

United States Department of Health and Human Services
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion