CA Maternal Mortality by Race/Ethnicity

Racial Disparity within maternal mortality rates has increased and widened over time.

In California, from 2006 to 2008, African-American women were roughly four times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes with

  • 46.1 deaths per 100,000 live births, compared to
  • 12.8 for Hispanic women,
  • 12.4 for White women, and
  • 9.3 for Asian women (see Figure below).

The widening disparity in maternal mortality rates for African-American women compared to White women has worsened over time.  In the 1940s, African-American women were 2.3 times more likely than White women to die from pregnancy-related causes in California

This disparity in maternal deaths between African-American women and women of other racial/ethnic groups is the largest disparity among major public health mortality indicators. (REF 8)

It is not known whether this maternal health disparity is due to differences in health status (e.g., a higher burden of illness, injury, disability) or if it also represents a disparity in health care that can be attributed to differences in health insurance coverage, entry to prenatal care, access or quality of care.

Another racial/ethnic disparity is a rise in maternal mortality among U.S.-born Hispanics in California.

The rate of maternal death has nearly doubled in the past ten years for this group, rising from an average rate of
•7.0 deaths per 100,000 live births in 1999-2001 to
•13.5 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2006-2008 (see Figure below).


 

This increase in maternal mortality among this group is a concerning development since approximately half of all births in California, or more than a quarter of a million births annually, are to Hispanic women. In particular, U.S.-born Hispanics account for an increasing proportion of births within California and among all Hispanic births.

U.S.-born Hispanics accounted for 22% of all births in California in 2008, up from 17% in 1999.

Among all Hispanic births in California, births to U.S.-born Hispanic women accounted for 43% of Hispanic births in 2008, up from 35% in 1999.

REFERENCE:
8. Xu J, Kochanek KD, Murphy SL, Tejada-Vera B. Deaths: Final data for 2007. National vital statistics reports; Vol 58 no 19. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. 2010.