MSN 591 CCC Understanding Maternal Health in Utah Discussion

Peer Responses:

• Length: A minimum of 170 words per post, not including references
• Citations: At least two high-level scholarly reference in APA per post from within the last 5 years
• Relate to another journal article

The population I have chosen is pregnant women in Utah. The health behaviors of pregnant women in Utah have a unique cultural population due to its large religious population. For instance, the smoking rate in the last trimester of pregnancy is 1.4% (Department of Health, 2024), which is well below the national average. Pre-term birth rates are also one of the lowest States at 9.98% (Stats of the States – Preterm Births, 2024). The c-section rate is the lowest in the country at 23.4% (Stats of the States – Cesarean Delivery Rates, 2024). 24.3% of women are obese when beginning pregnancy (Department of Health, 2024). Maternal mortality in Utah was 15 per 100,000 births in 2020 (Department of Health, 2024). All rates for pregnancy in Utah are climbing from year to year. This trend is conducive to the rest of the country (NCHS Pressroom – Stats of the States, 2024).

Transportation issues are a barrier to healthcare and prenatal care for many Utah women. In large rural areas without access to public transportation, access to care on a regular basis is limited (Utah Infrastructure | ASCE’s 2021 Infrastructure Report Card, 2016).

One health issue in this population is the lack of providers that are trained to do vaginal breech birth thus reducing the overall c-section rate. Lowering the c-section rate reduces short and long-term complications for both the mothers and babies in Utah. Vaginal birth facilitates a faster recovery with reduced postpartum depression rates and infections (Grisbrook et al., 2022). To make vaginal breech birth safe, providers must be properly trained in methods of fetal rotation and how to correct deviances in rotation. There needs to be more incentives for providers to be trained in vaginal breech birth rather than a c-section for every breech baby.

While Utah has some of the lowest rates related to negative outcomes in pregnancy and birth in the nation, outcomes can always be improved, especially since trends go up every year rather than down.

References

Department of Health. (2023). IBIS-PH – Complete Health Indicator Report – Birth rates. Utah.gov. https://ibis.health.utah.gov/ibisph-view/indicator…

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Grisbrook, M., Dewey, D., Cuthbert, C., McDonald, S., Ntanda, H., Giesbrecht, G. F., & Létourneau, N. (2022). Associations among Caesarean Section Birth, Post-Traumatic Stress, and Postpartum Depression Symptoms. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(8), 4900–4900. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19084900

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Stats of the States – Cesarean Delivery Rates. (2024). https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/sosmap/cesarean…

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Stats of the States – Preterm Births. (2024). https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/sosmap/preterm_…

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Utah Infrastructure | ASCE’s 2021 Infrastructure Report Card. (2016, October 27). ASCE’s 2021 Infrastructure Report Card |. https://infrastructurereportcard.org/state-item/ut…