Utah
Study: Indigenous maternal deaths on the rise in Utah
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SALT LAKE CITY — The maternal death rate has skyrocketed for Indigenous women in Utah, according to a first-of-its-kind report that breaks down maternal mortalities by ethnicity, race and state.
Native American women in Utah had the highest maternal mortality rate of any other ethnic or racial group in any state, according to University of Washington and Massachusetts General Hospital researchers. The findings reflect a broader national trend of higher rates for Native and Black women, as well as an overall twofold increase in maternal deaths.
“Maternal mortality persists as a source of worsening disparities in many U.S. states, and prevention efforts during this study period appear to have had a limited impact in addressing this health crisis,” the study reads. “The results of the current study reveal marked inequities facing the American Indian and Alaska Native population.”
The study’s data shows that Native American women in Utah have consistently had higher maternal mortality ratios than other racial and ethnic groups in the state since 1999. However, that disparity spiked sharply in 2018 and 2019, with rates for Indigenous Utah women about doubling both years.
Meanwhile, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that 80% of pregnancy-related deaths in 2017-2019 were preventable.
The study used vital registration and census data from 1999 to 2019 to estimate maternal mortality rates, which refers to the number of women who die from pregnancy-related causes per 100,000 live births. Previous efforts to study maternal mortalities over time have been hampered by differences in how states collect and report data.
In 2019, 301 of 100,000 Indigenous women who gave birth died from pregnancy-related causes, researchers found. That’s compared to 34 Black women, 33 Asian and Pacific Islander women, 29 white women and 18 Hispanic women. It’s more than four times higher than the national mortality rate for American Indian and Alaska Native women.
Researchers argue the “profound disparity” observed among Native American women across the country calls for a national approach to solving the issue.
Native Americans across the country face a number of health care disparities. In Utah, for example, a third of Native Americans live an hour’s drive or more from respiratory care.
Native Americans are legally entitled to federal health care services unlike other ethnic and racial groups in the U.S. due to the government-to-government relationship between the U.S. and tribes. Today the Indian Health Service, a federal agency, provides medical services to tribal members, and a number of tribes also provide independent health care. However, underfunding has been common.
Study authors cited mental health conditions and hemorrhage as major contributors to pregnancy-related deaths for Native Americans. However, they cautioned that additional research is still needed.
“Additional investigation is needed to better understand what factors are contributing to increasing maternal mortality and how systemic racism, which is associated with broader social determinants of health and individual health characteristics, relates to persistent inequities in maternal mortality in the U.S. and how interventions to dismantle these structural barriers might improve outcomes,” the study reads.