Maternal Health

Data sourcing

Trends in State-Level Maternal Mortality by Racial and Ethnic Group in the United States. By ingesting figures published on JAMA as part of this study, we are able to visualize trends in maternal mortality by race/ethnicity in the United States by state, by race, and by year.

JAMA Network

Conditions

• Maternal Mortality

Metrics

• Deaths per 100k: This figure measures a particular group’s rate of maternal deaths per every 100,000 live births.
• Percent share: This figure measures a particular group’s share of the total maternal deaths.
• Population percent: This figure measures a particular group’s share of the total measured population.

Demographic Identifiers

Race/ethnicity: This source uses race/ethnicity categories that align with those we retrieve from the Census data.

Live Birth Denominators and Estimated Counts

Maternal mortality rates are modeled estimates published by the study authors, expressed per 100,000 live births. The study does not publish the underlying counts at every level, so the tracker pairs its rates with live birth denominators as follows.

• National: Counts of maternal deaths and live births for 1999 and 2019 are taken directly from the table published with the study. These counts are used to calculate each group’s share of total maternal deaths.
• State: The study does not publish state-level counts. For the most recent year (2019), we use live birth counts from the CDC WONDER Natality (expanded) database, grouped by the mother’s state of residence, single race, and Hispanic origin. Births to Hispanic mothers of any race, including those whose race is unknown, are counted as Hispanic or Latino. Births to non-Hispanic mothers are assigned to their race group. Births to non-Hispanic mothers with unknown race, and births with unknown Hispanic origin, are excluded. Cells that CDC WONDER suppresses for confidentiality are not included.
• Estimated maternal deaths: For each state and race/ethnicity group, we estimate the number of maternal deaths by multiplying the study’s rate by that group’s 2019 live births and dividing by 100,000. These are estimates derived from a modeled rate, not observed death counts.
• State totals for all groups: The study does not publish an all-groups rate for individual states. For 2019 only, we calculate one by adding the estimated deaths and live births across the race/ethnicity groups that have a matching denominator, so state trend charts do not include an all-groups line for earlier years. The study combines Asian, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander mothers into one group, so we add CDC WONDER’s separate Asian and Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander births together to match it. Births to mothers of more than one race are not included, because the study does not publish a rate for that group.

Population percent reflects each group’s share of the total population from the American Community Survey, not its share of live births.

Severe maternal morbidity is sourced from America’s Health Rankings, which draws on the AHRQ Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project State Inpatient Databases via the HRSA Maternal and Child Health Bureau’s Federally Available Data. America’s Health Rankings reports this measure per 10,000 delivery hospitalizations; we present it per 100,000 for consistency with other tracker rates.

America’s Health Rankings

Conditions

• Severe Maternal Morbidity

Metrics

• Cases per 100k: This figure measures a particular group’s rate of significant, life-threatening complications during delivery per every 100,000 delivery hospitalizations.

Demographic Identifiers

Race/ethnicity: Available for American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian/Pacific Islander (combined), Black, Hispanic, White, and an aggregated other-race group.

Age: Available for maternal age groups (under 20, 20–24, 25–29, 30–34, and 35 and older).

Sex: Not applicable — this measure covers delivery hospitalizations only.

• Maternal mortality (New Mothers, Ages 10-54): race/ethnicity: Available; age: Not available; sex: Not available
• Severe maternal morbidity (Birthing People): race/ethnicity: Available; age: Available; sex: Not available

Maternal mortality

Measurement definition: Maternal deaths per 100,000 live births. Births were modeled using counts of live births among individuals aged 10 to 54 years between 1999 and 2019. Deaths were modeled from death certificate data for pregnant or recently pregnant individuals aged 10 to 54 years. Maternal deaths are coded as deaths that occurred up to 1 year after the end of pregnancy and were coded with the use of the US standard pregnancy question and/or a specific International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems codes.

Severe maternal morbidity

Measurement definition: Significant, life-threatening complications during delivery — the unexpected outcomes of labor and delivery that result in serious short- or long-term consequences to women and birthing people's health. Identified from delivery hospitalization records using the CDC's set of indicators (e.g., eclampsia, hysterectomy, sepsis, acute renal failure). Often described as "near misses," these are the non-fatal counterpart to maternal mortality and are roughly 100 times more common.

Source: AHR