This week’s maternal health news highlights a troubling national trend: the growing inaccessibility and inequity of pregnancy care in the U.S. Rural hospital closures are eliminating labor and delivery services, while underfunded research and systemic barriers continue to drive poor outcomes. At the same time, new insights offer promising paths forward, including respectful maternity care, expanded use of prenatal testing, and blood pressure monitoring as a predictor of long-term health.
6/12, Nevada Current: ‘Expensive and complicated’: Most rural hospitals no longer deliver babies
Inadequate funding from Medicaid and private insurers contribute to the shutdowns of rural labor and delivery units across the country, and closures have ripple effects on the community.
6/11, Medical Xpress: Improving maternal outcomes with respectful maternity care
A clinical perspective led by Dr. Kristin Tully and published in Seminars in Perinatology reveals a connection between negative health outcomes and mistreatment, medical neglect, and systemic racism, and highlights the critical necessity for respectful maternity care.
6/11, The Economist: A routine test for fetal abnormalities could improve a mother’s health
Studies show that non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) has benefits beyond fetal health insights, and can help detect preeclampsia and predict preterm births.
6/06. AJMC: Maternal Deaths Rise in US as Research and Policy Lag
New data points to underfunded research and restrictive policies as the main drivers of persistent negative maternal health outcomes. Efforts to prioritize women's health research exist, but funding remains insufficient, with a small fraction allocated to pregnancy studies.
From Babyscripts:
6/06, Medical Economics: Blood pressure monitoring in pregnancy is a window into long-term health
A recent study found that blood pressure monitoring during pregnancy can predict future cardiovascular disease risk, especially patterns before 20 weeks gestation. Anish Sebastian discusses the implications of this study for maternal health remote patient monitoring.
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