By Associated Press
ATLANTA — Native American, Asian American and Hispanic women are much more likely to die from pregnancy complications than white women, government researchers said Thursday.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the report — the first to examine pregnancy death risks for the three smaller demographic groups — highlights a gap in quality of prenatal care given to immigrant women.
“We need to look at the experience of immigrant women in pregnancy,” said Sara Whitehead, a CDC epidemiologist. “Once we can understand the picture better, we’ll have concrete suggestions to make.”
Black women still have the highest such risk of any racial or ethnic group — nearly 30 women die per 100,000 live births.
Native Americans and Alaska natives die from pregnancy complications at a rate of 12.2, the CDC said. The rate is 11.3 for Asians and Pacific Islanders and 10.3 for Hispanic women. The rate for white women is 7.3.
For Hispanic women and women of Asian descent, the risk was much higher for those born outside the United States.
The CDC’s study covered 1991 to 1997, the latest year for which statistics are available. It included deaths from complications during pregnancy and deaths in the first year after childbirth that could be traced to problems with the pregnancy. |
