State researchers say a majority of maternal deaths reported in Texas in 2012 were coded incorrectly.
According to a study published Monday in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology, researchers were able to confirm just 56 out of 147 obstetric deaths that year – that is, deaths occurring within 42 days of childbirth.
The study was conducted in response to research published in August 2016 by national researchers that found Texas’ maternal mortality rate doubled in a two-year period. State epidemiologists say the underlying data used in that study was faulty. (Those national researchers also reported a problem with data in a follow-up study published earlier this year.)
Sonia Baeva, an epidemiologist with the Texas Department of State Health Services, said she and other researchers combed through records of 147 reported maternal deaths.
Baeva said they checked state databases and called some of the people who reported the deaths.
“They would admit that they made a mistake or that there was no way that the woman was pregnant,” she said. “So for the majority of cases we did obtain the relevant information and found out that a vast majority were labeled incorrectly.”
Natalie Archer, another epidemiologist with DSHS, said that means the mortality rate isn’t as high as first reported. She said it also means the state has work to do to improve death reporting practices.
Chris Van Deusen, a spokesperson for DSHS, said in a statement last week that a workgroup is helping health officials implement better reporting practices.
“We have a survey out right now to justices of the peace, health care facilities and medical examiners to learn more about their death certificate practices and get a better understanding of how that varies from place to place,” he said. “That will all help the workgroup develop new training and education for medical certifiers.”
Van Deusen said they are also looking at possibly improving technology and state policies.
“I do think the data will improve and should become more reliable for reporting statistics – even such as maternal mortality,” Baeva said.
