🌅 The Overlooked Leader of Maternal Death

SOURCE

Azad et al. (2026)

WHAT TO KNOW

• Researchers at Columbia University analyzed the death certificates of all 7,901 pregnant and postpartum women (42 days or fewer after delivery) who died in the U.S. from 2018 to 2023, finding the most commonly listed cause wasn’t heart problems or infection but accidental overdose, which caused 1,152 deaths (5.2 per 100,000 live births) over the 6-year study period. Violence (defined as homicide or suicide) was the second leading cause, accounting for 866 deaths (3.9 per 100,000). The 2,018 total deaths caused by violence and overdose was nearly as many as the total attributed to the next four leading causes combined (2,141 deaths attributed to cardiovascular disease, hypertension, infection, or hemorrhage).

WHY IT MATTERS

• The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention excludes homicide, suicide, and overdose from its definition of “maternal mortality” to focus on more traditional “medical” causes, largely for logistical reasons. The study authors say excluding violence and overdose has led most public health training to focus on cardiovascular disease, hypertension, infection, and hemorrhage as the leading causes of maternal mortality, leaving thousands of preventable deaths unaddressed.

CONNECT THE DOTS

• The present study found 77% of maternal homicides included a firearm, as did 39% of suicides. Another study by researchers at Harvard Medical School and Boston Children’s Hospital found pregnant women in the U.S. face a 37% higher firearm homicide rate than nonpregnant women, and for every 1% increase in firearm ownership in a state, pregnant women experience an 8% increase in firearm homicide rates.