Mental health leading cause for pregnancy-related deaths, new report finds
University Health offers help
Click here, or call 816-307-2130 to find out more about the EleVATE, a program designed to give pregnant people group support and community while receiving prenatal care.
*At University Health Behavioral Health Crossroads (300 W. 19th Terrace, KCMO) walk-in care is available Monday thru Friday from 8am until 12pm. A master's-level mental health professional will meet with you and help you get the care you need. Each person who utilizes walk-in hours will be assessed and connected to appropriate services. Please bring with you if available, a photo ID, insurance card (if applicable), guardianship paperwork (if applicable), and birth certificate (for minors). For more information, call 816.404.5709 Monday through Friday from 8:00 am to 5 pm.
University Health doctors Traci Johnson, MD (left) and Tiffany Ruffin, PsyD (right) are hitting the airwaves these days in an effort to discuss and educate people about maternal mental health. They recently sat down with KMBC anchor Cody Holyoke for an episode of Heart of the Matter which airs on Sundays at 11am.
- An average of 70 people die each year in Missouri due to pregnancy-related deaths
- 84% of pregnancy-related deaths were deemed preventable
- Black women were three times more likely than white women to experience pregnancy-related deaths
Traci Johnson, MD is a maternal fetal specialist (an OB-GYN who specializes in high-risk pregnancy) at University Health. She’s also the Chair-elect of Missouri’s Pregnancy Associated Mortality Review (PAMR) Board.
A new report from PAMR breaks down what caused people to die during or up to a year after pregnancy during 2018-2020. Suicide was to blame in 18% of the deaths. An overwhelming percentage of those people were white, and most deaths occurred 43 days to one year after delivering a baby. Fifty percent of those deaths utilized a gun.
“What was surprising to me were the suicides,” said Dr. Johnson who studies the data and knows that majority of these deaths were preventable.
University Health is one of the only medical centers in the region to staff its women’s care clinic with specialty-trained mental health staff. Tiffany Ruffin, PsyD, who specializes in maternal mental health.
“One of the things we need to start doing is offering much more support. More support for people while they’re pregnant and after they have a baby,” Ruffin said.
Regarding the uniqueness of University Health services, Dr. Johnson adds, “We have a whole team of mental health specialists who are seeing the patients along with the obstetric clinicians.”
What those mental health professionals advise is that people need to talk about mental health to reduce any negative stigma. They also need to continue to offer support to a new parent long after a baby is born, as the majority of suicides happened after a pregnant person’s final post-partum checkup.
“There is no such thing as too much support and too many conversations,” said Dr. Ruffin. “It’s never a bad idea to ask someone, ‘how are you doing? Are you feeling suicidal? Are you struggling?’” Dr. Ruffin adds that if you’re asking someone if they need help, it’s good to have resources available. Some of those include:
- The new 9-8-8 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline number, where crisis counselors are available 24/7 to listen and support you confidentially and without judgment
- The Postpartum Support International (PSI) website, offering valuable information and support resources
And for those who need in-person care locally, University Health Behavioral Health Crossroads (300 W. 19th Terrace, KCMO) offers walk-in hours Monday thru Friday from 8am until 12pm.*
If Dr. Johnson was surprised by the number of people who died by suicide, she was heartbroken by the determination that 84% of all deaths were preventable. That includes all deaths related to mental health conditions like depressive disorder, anxiety disorder, substance use disorder and other psychiatric conditions. Two thirds of deaths caused by hemorrhage and ¾ of cardiovascular related deaths were preventable as well.
“Anybody who touches the patient, whether it be community, church, health care workers, hospital systems, or family has a role to play,” said Dr. Johnson. “What was glaring in case after case is the lack of awareness, access, and education: Education surrounding best practices for patients, how to get patients the needed resources, and how problems show up in different communities.
Dr. Johnson is proud that University Health is able to offer a group maternity care program called EleVATE. It was formed by a team of clinicians in St. Louis to reduce health negative outcomes for Black pregnant people and newborns. EleVATE is designed to give pregnant people the support and community while receiving prenatal care so they have more opportunity to discuss mental health and decrease toxic stress. While it was intended to reduce the disparity of outcomes based on race and ethnicity, anyone with a qualifying risk factor for postpartum depression, such as history of depression or history of a previous pregnancy loss can enroll.
“Toxic stress eradication and advocacy for yourself and your baby are embedded within the program,” said Dr. Johnson. “During the pilot program in St. Louis, clinicians found that patients enrolled in EleVATE group prenatal care experienced less preterm birth, low birth weight infants and a decrease in maternal depression,” she added.