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Maternal health issues and birth complications closely linked to chronic health conditions have seen an uptick in Illinois, according to a study published Thursday from Northwestern Medicine.

The study looked at more than 988,000 births at 127 Illinois hospitals between 2016 to 2023. The study authors found the rate of severe maternal morbidity, or significant health consequences from labor or delivery, rose from 1.4% to 2% during that time.

At the same time, the study found increased rates of high blood pressure, gestational diabetes, mental health disorders and obesity, risk factors for maternal morbidity and birth complications, according to the study’s authors.

“Pregnancy is a stress test on the body; it is not a health-neutral event,” said Dr. Mugdha Mokashi, study co-author and resident physician in obstetrics and gynecology at the McGaw Medical Center at Northwestern.

“When people have a predisposition for chronic illness in the future, sometimes pregnancy and the stress that it can put on the body can really increase or ramp up those conditions at that time,” Mokashi continued.

The study found Black women face more than double the rate of severe complications than White women. Additionally, living in high-poverty neighborhoods elevated maternal health risks across all racial groups.

Vaginal birth complications increased more than 22% and cesarean birth complications increased nearly 49%, according to the study findings, which were published in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology Open.

Expanding access to prenatal care and health counseling before pregnancy is an important step in helping reduce maternal health issues and birth complications, the study found.

Having existing health conditions during pregnancy mean doctors might make special considerations like changes to the recommended timing for delivery, the types of pregnancy screenings someone receives or changes to a person’s medication, according to Mokashi.

“Thinking about pregnancy as kind of a crystal ball into the future is helpful because it can help people understand their bodies better and understand their health risks,” Mokashi said.

Increasing access to doula support and patient navigator programs, as well as policies that aim to reduce poverty, can help address maternal health issues, according to the study’s authors. The study also points to the Illinois Perinatal Quality Collaborative for its work that aims to improve outcomes and reduce disparities for mothers and babies.

One of its members, Tayo Mbande, is co-founder and CEO of Chicago Birthworks Collective, based in Hyde Park. Chicago Birthworks Collective aims to help and empower Black families during pregnancy with a team of trained doulas and birth workers.

Because of racism and bias Black families might face during pregnancy, Mbande emphasized the important role that doulas and midwives play in supporting people throughout the stages of pregnancy.

“There are providers who are struggling with racism, and they’re struggling with bias and they’re struggling with paternalism,” Mbande said. “They are contributing to the underlying and hidden maternal health crisis.”

Mbande said that families on the South Side have fewer options available to them during pregnancy, and part of the work of a doula is to help families feel seen and heard in their care.

It’s important for people to think about health equity through a historical lens that also considers root causes and social determinants of health, according to Mbande.

“If you got folks in the city who can’t access basic resources like safe housing or healthy food, access to jobs, they have high rates of violence in their communities, we have to assume that the complications in their pregnancy are directly related to those things,” Mbande said.

For Mokashi, changes in policy around women’s health such as diminishing access to abortion and decreased funding for maternal mortality review committees are also important to consider when it comes to addressing maternal health issues and birth complications.

“All of these things are connected,” Mokashi said. “It’s really important that we fix them because people’s lives are at stake.”

Contact Eunice Alpasan: @eunicealpasan | 773-509-5362 | [email protected]