Many U.S. Women Unhappy With Maternal Health Care, Poll Finds

WEDNESDAY, June 5, 2024 (HealthDay News) — Many women are unhappy with the state of U.S. maternal health care, but a major new poll finds most Americans don’t understand how badly the nation lags behind other wealthy countries in this area.

Only about 2 in 5 (42%) women currently pregnant or ever pregnant strongly felt they had access to the best possible medical care while pregnant, down significantly from 50% in 2022, according to The Harris Poll’s second annual survey on the state of maternal health care.

Women reported similar numbers regarding their health care while giving birth. About 44% felt they had access to the best possible medical care during delivery, down from 52% in 2022, results show.

“These results confirm that pregnancy and birth care in the United States is on the decline, and there is much room for improvement,” said Christina Lojek, research manager, media and communications research, at The Harris Poll.

Despite this, Americans were still likely to rank U.S. maternal care better than it actually is, when compared to that of other high-income countries, the poll found.

For example, only about 1 in 4 (29%) Americans surveyed correctly stated that the United States does not have one of the lowest rates of infant mortality among developed countries.

In fact, the United States has the highest rate of infant mortality among wealthy nations, at 5.4 deaths for every 1,000 live births, a 2022 Commonwealth Fund report shows. The next leading countries are Canada (4.5 infant deaths), New Zealand (4.3), The Netherlands (3.8) and the United Kingdom (3.6).

Similarly, only about 2 in 5 (40%) Americans knew that the country has one of the highest rates of maternal mortality.

Maternal mortality rates in the United States are double and sometimes triple that of other wealthy nations, according to a Commonwealth Fund report issued earlier this week.

U.S. women had a maternal death rate from complications of pregnancy and childbirth of 22 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2022, the report said. The death rate of Black American women was even worse, at nearly 50 deaths per 100,000 live births.

But only half of all Americans (50%) and just 57% of Black Americans know that Black women are nearly three times as likely as white women to die from pregnancy-related causes, the poll found.

“Overall, Americans are poorly informed about giving birth in the U.S., specifically surrounding risks and complications, especially for Black women,” the poll stated.

The poll also found that many U.S. women develop health problems during pregnancy, for which they need good care.

Nearly 3 in 5 (57%) women who are or have been pregnant said they were diagnosed with a medical condition between conception and after delivery. That includes about 1 in 3 (32%) who said they were diagnosed with anxiety, depression or another mental health condition.