TRENDS More Black Women At Risk During Pregnancy (NAPSA)—If you are a black woman in the United States, you are three times morelikely than a white woman to die from pregnancy-related complications and childbirth. To reduce these high mortality risks, the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine (SMFM) is emphasizing the importance of increased researchefforts. Maternal Deaths* Among Black and White Women United States, 1973-1997 I l | 1982 ——_ Black White 0 oT} 91S at yaT9 oth at} 98> atl yak? a9 ya 99 007 Each year four million women in the United States give birth. Black women havethe highest rate of pregnancy complications. Why are more black women at risk? Efforts to identify the rea- sons for the drastic racial disparity have not produced clear answers. “Some medical conditions, such as hypertensive disorders, are responsible for the racial disparity in mortality because they are simply more common in certain races,” said Dr. Haywood Brown, maternal-fetal specialist and president-elect of SMFM. Brown recommends focusing research efforts on epidemiology to reduce racial disparity. “Epi- demiologists study the causes, dis- tribution and control of disease in populations,” Brown said. “Because this issue goes beyond a purely ‘medical’ realm, epidemiology is necessary to understand the effect of cultural factors.” The Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicineis a not-for-profit organization of approximately 2,000 members dedicated to improving the health care ofpregnant women andtheir infants.
