Heartbeat Heroines: Caring for the hearts of pregnant women

(InvestigateTV) — Pregnant Black women die at a rate more than three times higher than white women, according to new numbers released from the CDC.

The CDC counts women who died while pregnant, during childbirth and up to 42 days after birth. Accidental deaths are excluded. The report found 669 women died in 2023 during pregnancy or shortly after childbirth.

Excessive bleeding, blood vessel blockages and infections were leading causes of maternal deaths in 2023, according to this report, but traditionally, a much more insidious disease known as preeclampsia is the cause.

“The United States has the highest maternal mortality rate of any industrialized country in the world,” says Dr. Connie Graves, Maternal Fetal Medicine Obstetrician in Nashville.

Dr. Graves cares for pregnant women whose pregnancies are deemed high-risk.

“We know many of the maternal deaths, especially among black women, are because of the biases that still exist in our system, says Dr. Graves. “Frankly, {black women} are less likely to be listened to when they present with complaints.”

Preeclampsia is the number one killer of pregnant women and the number one cause of stillbirth in babies, according to the Preeclampsia Foundation.

Thanks to research that has emerged in the last two decades, preeclampsia is now recognized as a heart disease.

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