Please read Dr. Reichman’s article in JAMA Network titled, “Municipality-Level Variation in Severe Maternal Morbidity and Association With Municipal Expenditures in New Jersey.”
The United States has one of highest rates of maternal mortality among high-income countries. Severe maternal morbidity (SMM), defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as unintended outcomes of labor and delivery that result in significant short- or long-term consequences to a woman’s health, is a major determinant of maternal mortality. In 2015, 146.6 of every 10,000 women hospitalized for a delivery experienced SMM. Besides being an important women’s health outcome, SMM can lead to disruptions in mother-infant bonding, which can compromise children’s social and emotional development. SMM also confers substantial economic costs to families, employers, insurers, and communities. Rates of SMM are generally reported at the national, census regional, or state level, with few available robust prevalence estimates at more local levels. Identification of geographic patterns in SMM at finer levels of geography is needed for pinpointing problem areas, identifying structural determinants, identifying potential area-level buffering and exacerbating factors, and targeting of interventions in devolved health systems. To read the full article.
Municipality-Level Variation in Severe Maternal Morbidity and Association With Municipal Expenditures in New Jersey. Muchomba FM, Teitler J, Kruse L, Reichman NE.JAMA Netw Open. 2021 Nov 1;4(11):e2135161. PMID: 34792591 DOI: 1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.35161