Most poorer countries have seen major drops in maternal mortality since 2000. While wealthy countries are generally seeing a flatlining or slight increasing trend, the rate has nearly doubled in the US. Acutely, (ie the medical issue not social causes) what is causing this to happen? What illnesses are pregnant women now getting more frequently? Why were we able to avoid these in a time (2000) where information sharing and technological capabilities were much worse? Don’t we have a good grasp on the general process of pregnancy and childbirth and the usual issues that emerge?
It seems as if the rise of technology in medicine, increasing volume of research on the matter, and the general treatment level of US hospitals would decrease or at the very least keep the rate the same. How is it that the medical knowledge and treatment regimens have deteriorated to such an extent? Are the complications linked to obesity?
In: 1594
To lay out a few facts: This NIH study shows that the US, compared to other developed countries, has a substantially higher infant mortality rate. This is a meta study, so looked accross methodologies of many different studies, and while the exact number (obviously) varied, the result was the same – looking at IMR, we are on par with Croatia, not the UK, Canada or Australia.
[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4856058/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4856058/)
Despite a pretty complete analysis, this data didn’t really get at a single cause. For instance, income disparity only accounts for 30% fo the gap in infant mortality compared to Finland. So, while that is a chunk of the explanation (we have great healthcare, but only if you are that has it AND can afford it). To be fair – I think this may have been obfuscated by some low income jobs having better insurance.
One thing this paper didn’t touch on was racial disparity in mortality rates. Black mothers are much more likely to die, and so are their children. Nearly double when compared to white families.
[https://www.kff.org/racial-equity-and-health-policy/issue-brief/racial-disparities-in-maternal-and-infant-health-current-status-and-efforts-to-address-them/](https://www.kff.org/racial-equity-and-health-policy/issue-brief/racial-disparities-in-maternal-and-infant-health-current-status-and-efforts-to-address-them/)
Why? Economics (as outlined above) account for part of it. However, you can find testimony from black doctors who know they weren’t getting the best treatment from otherwise great facilities. So, racism in the healthcare system is absolutely part of the problem. There is plenty of research out there that, in the US, black people are viewed as being more aggressive even while engaging in the same actions as white people – even when the subjects are toddlers. Combative patients generally get worse treatment.
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