A new study from Northwestern Medicine reveals a troubling rise in severe maternal health issues and birth complications in Illinois from 2016 to 2023, closely linked to increases in chronic health conditions affecting pregnancy, such as high blood pressure, gestational diabetes, mental health disorders and especially obesity, which saw the largest increase in annual rates.
The study highlights significant racial and socioeconomic disparities, finding that non-Hispanic Black mothers faced more than double the rate of severe complications compared to non-Hispanic white mothers, and that living in high-poverty neighborhoods elevated maternal health risks across all racial groups.
“Despite significant recent statewide quality-improvement efforts, these birth outcomes are worsening for all ages, reflecting the worsening pre-pregnancy health of the reproductive-age population in Illinois,” said corresponding author Dr. Mugdha Mokashi, a resident physician in obstetrics and gynecology at the McGaw Medical Center at Northwestern.
The findings reflect national trends demonstrating the increasing prevalence of conditions such as obesity, hypertensive disorders of pregnancy and gestational diabetes among pregnant people of all ages, she added. The study provides the most updated data on maternal morbidity and delivery complications within the state of Illinois.
Breaking down of the findings:
In the study cohort of 988,480 births at 127 Illinois hospitals between January 2016 to June 2023, the overall rate of severe maternal morbidity rose from 1.4% in 2016 to 2% in 2023. Vaginal birth complications increased 22.4%, and cesarean birth complications increased 48.9%.
Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy and anemia — both of which increased over the study period — were significant risk factors for severe maternal morbidity and birth complications. The largest increase by far was in annual rates of obesity from 2016 to the first six months of 2023 (7.8% to 22.3%). Additionally, there were increases in gestational diabetes (4.2% to 5.5%), depression (2.5% to 6.6%), anxiety (3.1% to 10.4%) and other chronic comorbidities (4.7% to 7.4%). Non-Hispanic Black patients had more than double the severe maternal morbidity rate (2.6%) compared to non-Hispanic white patients (1.1%).
The findings were published Nov. 21 in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology Open.
