Drug- and Pregnancy-Related Deaths: Levels, Trends, and Geographic Differentials During the Recent Drug Epidemic

Hayley Pierce , Brigham Young University
Magali Barbieri, Institut National d'Études Démographiques (INED)

The drug and opioid epidemics in the US are affecting pregnant women. Few, if any studies have systematically examined the relationship between maternal mortality and substance use in the US. We aim to look at multiple causes of death involving both a maternal mortality cause and drug use (both prescription and illegal), considering maternal age, variation by state, and change over time. Employing death certificates from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention between 1979 and 2016, we will map where these deaths are occurring, at what rate, and how this has changed over time. The continued burden of maternal mortality in the US and the increasing (mis-)use of drugs among women of reproductive age warrant a better understanding of the relationship between pregnancy-related and drug-related deaths in the US. Understanding this relationship will unify policy, pregnancy care, and substance abuse treatment to reduce deaths from pregnancy and drug use.

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 Presented in Session 190. Spatial Effects on Reproductive Health and Fertility