A report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ranks Tennessee number one for its maternal mortality rate. It’s a statistic several agencies and groups across the Volunteer State are trying to improve.
From 2018 to 2022, the state’s rate was 41.1 per 100,000 births, with 166 maternal deaths. That includes women who were pregnant or within 42 days of the end of their pregnancy who died from any cause related to or worsened by their pregnancy.
It’s something the Tennessee Department of Health’s Division of Family Health and Wellness looks at. The agency’s 2024 annual report states there were 45 pregnancy-related deaths in 2022. That’s down from 53 in 2021 and about even with the 46 reported in 2020.
“Big causes for us in Tennessee, especially based on the newest report that’s come out; maternal mental health disorders and substance use disorder; infection has been a common cause, although we’re seeing less of that now that we’ve moved through the COVID pandemic; and then we see lots of cardiovascular causes and hemorrhage is still kind of in the top four,” Medical Director for Obstetrics and Regional Perinatal Director at the University of Tennessee Medical Center Dr. Tripp Nelson said.
The state has a maternal mortality review committee that determines if a death was pregnancy-related or pregnancy-associated, and what could be done to prevent them in the future. That group considers a death preventable if reasonable changes to the patient, their treatment or family could have prevented the death. In 2022, the committee found 76% of were considered preventable.
Story courtesy of WVLT
