Maternal Mortality—Why Mothers Died

A Cause for Concern.

A major health concern of the decade was the high rate of mothers who died giving birth. In 1936 the Federal Children's Bureau called attention to an "alarmingly high" maternal mortality rate of 59 mothers per 10,000 live births in 1934, the highest among the industrialized nations. More women in the reproductive period of life from ages fifteen to twenty-four died from diseases and complications of pregnancy and childbirth than from any other cause except tuberculosis. The specific reasons recorded on death certificates for these 12,859 deaths included septicemia or puerperal fever, a contagious infection responsible for about 40 percent of the deaths. Twenty-three percent of maternal mortalities were due to albuminuria with eclampsia, a condition of protein in the urine which can lead to coma and convulsions. "Other causes," a blanket group of emergencies, abnormalities, operative procedures, etc., accounted...

[The entire page is 1032 words long]

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