The maternal mortality rate in the United States has risen to the highest level seen in almost six decades.

A report released on March 16 by the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics showed that the number of women who passed away during pregnancy or just after giving birth increased by 40% to 1,205 in 2021. This represents a significant hike compared to 861 deaths in 2020 and 754 in 2019.

A report released earlier this year found that Texas drives the national average of maternal deaths, as The Dallas Express previously reported. The Texas Maternal Mortality and Morbidity Review Committee found that 118 women died during childbirth and pregnancy in Texas in 2019, representing roughly 20% of the national average.

Yet while the national maternal mortality rate was 20.1 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2019, it rose to 23.8 in 2020 and then to 32.9 in 2021, per the report.

As such, the U.S. has become the most dangerous place among high-income nations for giving birth, per The Wall Street Journal. For comparison, Canada logged 11 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2020.

Moreover, while most other countries reported a decrease in maternal mortality between 2000 and 2020, the World Health Organization found that it had actually gone up in the U.S. by 78%, per the WSJ.

Several factors have contributed to this alarming figure, with age playing an important role.

In 2021, maternal deaths were more common among women over 40 years old. Compared to mothers under age 25, these women had a 6.8 times higher maternal morbidity rate in 2021.

Underlying cardiovascular problems — which go hand-in-hand with the soaring obesity rate — have also contributed to worsening maternal health.

Obesity is a national health problem that is highly pronounced among residents of Texas and Dallas-Fort Worth in particular. It was also named a contributing factor in 21% of maternal deaths in Texas in 2019.

Previous data from the CDC point to high incidents of pregnancy-related deaths through pulmonary embolisms, uncontrolled bleeding, and disorders related to hypertension, such as preeclampsia.

More recently, doctors and health officials have cited the COVID-19 pandemic among the reasons for the high maternal mortality rate, in part because pregnant women were more susceptible to severe illness or death related to the virus.

Dr. Elizabeth Cherot, nonprofit March of Dimes’ chief medical and health officer, told CNN that pregnant women were more at risk for “being ventilated in the intensive care unit, preeclampsia and blood clots, all of those things increasing a risk of morbidity and mortality.”

In addition, as studies have indicated, many people were less likely to seek essential care during the pandemic due to lockdowns and concerns about contracting the virus, per the WSJ.

Overall, the recent report attesting to the rise in maternal mortality becomes a pill that is even harder to swallow alongside the fact that approximately 80% of pregnancy-related deaths were preventable, per the CDC.

With this in mind, making moves to improve one’s health before pregnancy is an important step toward reducing the number of maternal deaths — especially when it comes to cardiovascular health.

As Dr. Sadiya Khan, assistant professor of medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, told the WSJ, “Prepregnancy is the time to really optimize maternal outcomes.”