ACOG issues Statement on New Data Showing Effect of COVID-19 and Mental Health on Maternal Mortality

Perinatal mood and anxiety disorders are among the most common complications that occur in pregnancy or in the first 12 months after delivery. Despite the negative effects on maternal, obstetric, birth, offspring, partner, and family outcomes, perinatal mental health disorders often remain underdiagnosed, and untreated or under-treated.Also COVID-19 infection and immunization has exhibited varied effects on maternal mortality.

American College of American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has issued Statement on New Data Showing Effect of COVID-19 and Mental Health on Maternal mortality.

Dr. M Christopher Zahn, MD, FACOG, interim CEO and chief of clinical practice and health equity and quality for the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has stated that:

“The latest CDC data provide a closer look at how the tremendous disruption that COVID-19 created within the health care system worsened maternal health outcomes at the start of the pandemic. They also highlight the extent to which COVID-19 disproportionately affected certain racial groups-particularly Black and American Indian or Alaska Native pregnant and postpartum people, who faced elevated rates of maternal mortality. We anticipated at the beginning of the pandemic that social determinants of health would play a large role in determining which groups would suffer more harm from COVID-19 prior to vaccine availability, especially with regard to pregnant individuals, who are at increased risk of severe complications and death from COVID-19; the data bear this out. The tragic disparities in outcomes among racial groups also demonstrates just how important the COVID-19 vaccines were in mitigating those inequities.

“While there continue to be competing data sources on maternal mortality, the consistencies among similar trends in the data shine a light on where we can and must make inroads. We are still seeing nearly 50% of maternal deaths occurring between seven days and one year postpartum, with more than 80% of those deaths considered preventable.

“One area in which we can move the needle in addressing preventable maternal deaths is mental health, as mental health conditions continue to be a leading cause of deaths. The new data reinforce the need for obstetric care clinicians to have the skill set necessary to address perinatal mental health conditions. Although obstetrician–gynecologists are not trained to treat all mental health conditions that can occur in the perinatal period, they can successfully address the overall issue of perinatal mental health in their patients with the proper guidance and resources.

“ACOG and others in the maternal heath space have done a lot of work to create clinical guidance and implementation tools on perinatal mental health and other conditions to empower clinicians to improve maternal health outcomes in their practices every day, but our focus needs to be on sustainability. We cannot afford to lose any ground.” said the statememt.