Black maternal health disparities in the nuMoM2b study

Maternal morbidity and mortality disproportionately affect Black women. Our data solution looked at disparities in both maternal negative outcomes (e.g. hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP)) and positive outcomes (term living fetus without complication). The sample was divided into four demographic risk groups based on income and education level. 

Our findings support that when controlling for demographic risk factors, Black women had more negative outcomes and less positive outcomes than the remainder of the population in the nuMoM2b study. Black women who had adequate income but lower education were more likely to have a negative outcome and less likely to have a positive outcome when compared to the remainder of the sample with the same demographic risk. When comparing women with adequate income, Black women with a higher education were still more likely to experience negative outcomes when compared to non-black women with a lower education. 

These findings support that Black maternal health disparities are not about sociodemographic factors like educational attainment and income, but rather points to the likelihood that Black women are more likely to experience the negative effects of racism. Future research is needed on the effects of racism on maternal health disparities. 

This preprint contains the NICHD Decoding Maternal Morbidity Data Challenge manuscript and Github repository information.