A new report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revealed that the majority of pregnancy-related deaths in the United States could be prevented with proper care.
CDC reports that with competent maternal care, which America lacks, in comparison to many of its peer developed nations, 84.2 per cent of pregnancy-related deaths might have been avoided.
As per Daily Mail, deaths by suicide or drug overdose account for 22.7 per cent of these deaths, with a significant fraction of these incidents being linked to mental health issues. Haemorrhages, heart conditions, infections, and excessive blood pressure were some of the other major causes.
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Health professionals have long cautioned about the often-overlooked problem of maternal mortality in the United States.
According to research by The Commonwealth Fund, with 17.4 deaths for every 100,000 births, the United States had the highest rate of any developed country.
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Maternal mortality in the US was compared to ten peer countries, and America had twice as many deaths per 100,000 people as France, which had the second highest figures in the survey, and ten times more than New Zealand.
Among wealthy nations, maternal mortality is a problem that is specific to the United States since there are fewer doctors available there and more hurdles to availing care.
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The head of the CDC’s Division of Reproductive Health, Dr Wanda Barfield, said in a statement that the research “paints a much clearer picture of pregnancy-related deaths in this country.”
The CDC analysis examined data on maternal deaths between 2017 and 2019. The information dates from before the COVID-19 epidemic, which many experts believe made the country’s problems with maternal mortality worse.
(With inputs from agencies)
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