U.S. Maternal Vulnerability Index (MVI)

Surgo Ventures' Maternal Vulnerability Index (MVI) ranks the U.S. states and counties on indicators measuring drivers of poor maternal health outcomes. Maternal vulnerability is assessed based on 43 drivers grouped into six themes: (1) Reproductive Healthcare, (2) Physical Health, (3) Mental Health and Substance Abuse, (4) General Healthcare, (5) Socioeconomic Determinants, and (6) Physical Environment. The MVI captures factors that put birthing people at increased risk of adverse outcomes during pregnancy that may lead to morbidities and/or death.

Data gaps on both maternal outcomes and their determinants constrain crafting evidence-based policies and interventions to address the maternal health crisis in the US. A growing body of evidence has found that the environment in which mothers live, work, deliver and raise their children can increase their risk of adverse health outcomes during and beyond pregnancy. Although data on these environmental and structural factors exist, the US MVI is the first nation-wide index to measure how contextual factors systematically expose populations of mothers to environments of lower or higher risk. State and local decision makers can use the tool to better understand where and why mothers are at increased risk for poor outcomes, to develop tailored, localized interventions and/or policies. Researchers can use the MVI, either alone or linked with other datasets, to provide a richer and more nuanced understanding of the drivers of poor maternal health outcomes in the US.

Data files:

1. mvi_data_dictionary.csv: Names and definitions of the variables in the data files.

2. mvi_county.csv: US MVI and six thematic scores for 3141 counties in the continental US and District of Columbia.

3. mvi_state.csv: US MVI and six thematic scores for 50 states and District of Columbia.

4. mvi_architecture_and_data_sources.csv: Index architecture and data sources by indicator used to construct the Maternal Vulnerability Index.