News: Maternal mortality in the U.S. shows little change in 2024

The United States recorded 649 maternal deaths and a mortality rate of 17.9 deaths per 100,000 births in 2024, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The total number of deaths declined slightly from the year before, with 669 deaths in 2023. However, the overall maternal mortality rate indicated no statistically significant improvement, highlighting persisting challenges in maternal healthcare.

Maternal mortality is defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as “the death of a woman while pregnant or within 42 days of termination of pregnancy, irrespective of the duration and the site of the pregnancy, from any cause related to or aggravated by the pregnancy or its management, but not from accidental or incidental causes.” The number of maternal deaths does not include all deaths of pregnant women or of recently pregnant women, but only those with the underlying cause of death assigned to the ICD-10-CM codes A34, O00-O95, and O98-O99.

Maternal mortality varied along racial and ethnic lines. The maternal mortality rate for Black women in 2024 was significantly higher than the rates for all other groups—the rate was 44.8 deaths per 100,000 live births compared to 18.1 for Asian women, 14.2 for white women, and 12.1 for Hispanic women. None of the year-to-year differences were significant, despite small changes from 2023. Data is available for only the largest race and ethnic origin groups, with numbers and rates from smaller groups being suppressed because statistically reliable rates cannot be calculated.  

Disparities can also be found among age groups. Women 40 years and older experienced a maternal mortality rate nearly five times higher than women under age 25 in 2024. The rates differed drastically, with 13.7 deaths per 100,000 live births for women under 25, 16.5 for ages 25-39, and 62.3 for those 40 and older.

Annual rates can fluctuate due to the possibility of inaccurate reporting, with consideration of the fact that maternal deaths are relatively rare events. However, the rates remain the same and reliable coding is essential for accurate surveillance, quality improvement, and policy development to better target maternal health outcomes. Efforts must continue to improve and further evaluate available data quality.

Editor’s note: To read the full report, click here. To read additional coverage of this study from JustCoding, click here.