A new analysis of maternal deaths in the United States finds that nearly one-third occur more than six weeks after childbirth, in a period when many families assume the danger has passed and routine medical follow-up has largely ended. Researchers report that pregnancy-related mortality rose almost 28 percent from 2018 to 2022, with deaths surging during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic before easing slightly but remaining elevated.The study, published in JAMA Network Open, underscores how a long shadow of risk stretches through the first year after delivery, as cardiovascular disease, cancer, mental and behavioral disorders, and drug- and alcohol-induced causes take a mounting toll. Cardiovascular disease was the leading cause of pregnancy-related deaths overall and of late maternal deaths, highlighting how pregnancy can strain the heart and worsen existing hypertension at a time when heart disease is becoming more common in younger adults.
Within these grim totals, the burden falls heaviest on marginalized communities. Native American and Alaska Native women died during pregnancy and the year after childbirth at rates 3.8 times as high as white women, while Black women died at rates 2.8 times as high, revealing stark racial and ethnic inequities in maternal health. Hispanic and Asian women had the lowest death rates, but risk also shifted sharply by geography, with mortality more than three times higher in some states than others and particularly elevated across the Southeast.
Medicaid, which covers nearly half of U.S. pregnancies, now extends coverage to a full year after birth in most states, but proposed federal cuts could jeopardize access to care precisely when many women of color face the greatest danger.
See: “One-Third of Maternal Deaths Occur Long After Delivery, Study Finds” (April 9, 2025)
