PHOM Indicator Profile Report of Maternal mortality

Why Is This Important?

More than 800 women died in the United States as a result of their pregnancy or delivery complications in 2022 (CDC). The death of a woman during pregnancy, delivery, or after delivery is a tragedy for her family and for society as a whole.

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.

The final determination about whether a death is categorized as pregnancy-related is made by the Utah Maternal 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 related to the pregnancy. 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 may affect the mortality ratio.

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 Maternal Mortality Review Committee then determines whether each maternal death was related to the pregnancy or not. Deaths determined to be pregnancy-related are included in the pregnancy-related mortality ratio reported here.  

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 are not yet available for years after 2020. https://www.cdc.gov/maternal-mortality/php/pregnancy-mortality-surveillance/?CDC_AAref_Val=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 2020-2022 was 20.3 pregnancy-related deaths per 100,000 live births.

What Is Being Done?

The Utah Department of Health and Human Services conducts ongoing maternal 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. The Hear Her campaign raises awareness of the urgent maternal warning signs during and after pregnancy to improve communication between patients, families, and healthcare providers. Utah has distributed more than 8,000 magnets with the urgent maternal warning signs to clinics, providers, and individuals attending community events.