Heart Disease Drives Spike in Pregnancy-Related Deaths, American Heart Association

May 5, 2020

(CNN) – Pregnancy-related deaths in the United States have doubled over the past two decades due to a rise in cardiovascular disease among women, the American Heart Association said Monday. The growing death rate in pregnant and post-partum women is caused in part by pre-existing conditions such as high blood pressure and diabetes, the Heart Association said in a statement. Another problem is the increasing rate of pregnancies among older women which can be “associated with pre-term birth, preeclampsia and chronic hypertension.”