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MATERNAL MORBIDITY
Morbidity associated with pregnancy can lead to serious
physical and mental health problems. The three most frequently
reported medical risk factors for women having live births
in 2001 were pregnancy-associated hypertension (37.7 per
1,000 live births), diabetes (31.1 per 1,000 live births),
and anemia (25.0 per 1,000 live births). Anemia occurs
more frequently among women aged 20 years or younger while
women aged 40 years or older are at greater risk for chronic
conditions such as diabetes (9.2 per 1,000 live births
vs. 71.7) and cardiac disease (2.7 per 1,000 live births
vs. 9.5).
Maternal illness and pregnancy-complications during labor
and delivery include conditions such as diabetes, hypertensive
disorders, cardiovascular disease, hemorrhage, amniotic
cavity infections, and obstetric trauma. In 1999, 31.4
percent of women discharged from hospitals experienced
these conditions, although complications occurred more
frequently in women who were at the ends of the age spectrum.
Females aged 15 years and younger, who delivered one or
more infants had the highest percentage of deliveries with
complications (49.4 percent). While data are not available
for other races/ethnicities, rates of complications during
pregnancy varied between Black and White women (35.4 per
100 deliveries vs. 30.5, respectively) in 1999.
Excessive weight gains in pregnancy have prompted attention
to the relationship of gestational weight gain and subsequent
obesity in women. In 2001, 18.5 percent of women having
a single live birth gained more than 40 pounds, the uppermost
weight gain limit recommended for any Body Mass Index1 category; this percentage increased to 19.1 for all women
having live births.
During the past decade, the proportion of live births
to women aged 35 years or older has steadily increased.
In 2001, 13.6 percent of all live births occurred to women
aged 35 years or older, an increase of 8 percent since
1997. Women in this age group were more likely to experience
such conditions as diabetes, cardiac disease, and chronic
hypertension than women under 35 years of age.
 [d]
 [d]
1Body
Mass Index (BMI) is a measure of weight in relation to
height. [Back]
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