'She Didn't Seem Right Yet': The Deadly Threat to New Mothers [View all]

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The rate of preeclampsia and other disorders in pregnancy related to high blood pressure more than doubled between 2007 and 2019. “It’s no longer a rare finding,” said Dr. Sadiya Khan, associate professor of medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. They complicate about 1 in 7 pregnancies a year, she said.

They’re part of what’s become a crisis in healthcare for pregnant women and new mothers in America. The U.S. rate of maternal deaths is the highest among high-income nations and has risen since 2018, even excluding a spike during the Covid-19 pandemic. The rate was 22.3 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2022, up from 17.4 in 2018, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

About two-thirds of maternal deaths occur postpartum—a period researchers and doctors increasingly refer to as the “fourth trimester.” Researchers say that postpartum home visits by medical staff and guaranteed paid leave are more common in other high-income nations than in the U.S., factors that can help prevent deadly complications.

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Preeclampsia can trigger organ damage, seizures or strokes. It is sometimes thought of as temporary, but research shows that patients are at significantly higher risk of heart attacks and strokes years later. While preeclampsia’s symptoms were first described by Hippocrates around 400 B.C., making it one of the world’s oldest recognized diseases, its causes are still unknown. Some researchers believe that it is more than one disease. Treatment hasn’t changed much in 100 years.

There’s a dearth of research on postpartum complications. Researchers are starting to examine postpartum blood pressures to better understand what happens to the body right after birth, since it takes several weeks to revert to a nonpregnant state, said Eleni Tsigas, chief executive of the nonprofit Preeclampsia Foundation. “But that is a field that has gone largely ignored and needs more attention,” she said.

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