by authorities in early may and has brought attention to the issue of black maternal mortality. bowie s cause of death was listed as respiratory distress and eclampsia, a rare and severe pregnancy related condition which can cause seizures or coma and is more prevalent in black women. kat stafford is a national investigative race reporter at the ap, and laid out what s at stake. one of the things i think is most important to note about the maternal mortality crisis is this really impacts all black women across the board, and what i mean by that is regardless of your wealth, regardless of your social standing, it doesn t matter, if you are black, if you are a black woman in america, you are far more likely to die during pregnancy, childbirth or postpartum, and a lot of the experts say it is very important to note that this cannot be explained just by genetics alone. what we have seen is the role of structural racism which frankly is still
her death was confirmed by authorities in early may. an autopsy released this week lists bowie s cause of death as respiratory distress and eclampsia, a rare and severe pregnancy related condition which can cause seizures or coma and is more prevalent in black women. many are calling tori bowie s death a wake up call for the black maternal mortality crisis. not only has america become the most dangerous wealthy nation for all women to give birth in, studies are now showing that for black women the risks are even higher, with an increased risk of pre eclampsia and are at a greater risk for maternal mortality. with issues like the quality of health care, underlying conditions, racism and implicit bias preventing many women from getting the health care that could save their lives. according to the cdc, black women are three times more likely to die from pregnancy related causes than white women. and the maternal mortality rate for black women was 69.9 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2
After the sudden death of Olympian Tori Bowie earlier this spring, a doctor specializing in cardiovascular complications in pregnancy spoke to NewsChannel 5.
What are the risk factors and symptoms of eclampsia, the condition that may have contributed to the death of three-time Olympic medalist Tori Bowie while she was pregnant?
may. those complications may include, quote, respiratory distress and eclampsia. joining us is an ob/gyn. it s good to have you, doctor. i m joined at the table by someone about to go through childbirth, someone who has gone through it, somebody who has been in the room for four, and you look at what happened to her, and we ll talk about this big picture for everyone at these different stages. so young, so healthy, so active and yet this happens. i do want to reassure people that pregnancy is generally a very safe experience, but we do have an incidence of preecp pre-ec pre-eclampsia, maybe she didn t know she had pre-eclampsia and suffered a negative side effect as a result.