Racial and Rural-Urban Disparities in Maternal Cardiac Disease Care in North Carolina: A Call to Action

Background Cardiac disease is a leading cause of severe maternal morbidity (SMM). We sought to estimate the effects of race and rural-urban status on cardiac-specific severe maternal morbidity (“cardiac SMM”) in North Carolina. Methods This retrospective study used the 2019 North Carolina State Inpatient Database (SID). Diagnosis codes were used to identify births, comorbidities, modified World Health Organization (mWHO) cardiac category, and outcomes. Hospital-level data were obtained from publicly available sources and the SID datasets. The primary outcome was a composite of cardiac SMM. Results Of 106,778 births, 369 had mWHO category I–II disease, and 366 had mWHO category II/III–IV disease. Individuals with cardiac disease had higher rates of cardiac SMM (10.4% versus 0.27% versus 0.13% for mWHO II/III–IV, mWHO I/II, and no disease, respectively). Among patients with mWHO II/III–IV disease, 60.0% of rural residents delivered at hospitals with advanced cardiac capabilities versus 80.8% of urban residents; there were no statistically significant differences in cardiac SMM rates (11.3% versus 10.1% for rural versus urban individuals, P = NS). In contrast, there were pronounced disparities in cardiac SMM among Black individuals compared with White individuals (0.28% versus 0.13%, P < .001), especially among individuals with mWHO II/III–IV disease (23.71% versus 5.41%, P < .001). Limitations Cardiac disease and outcomes were identified based on diagnosis and procedure codes. Identifying complications subsequent to the delivery hospitalization was not possible. Conclusions In North Carolina, there is a pronounced racial disparity in cardiac SMM during delivery hospitalizations, which is driven by patients with mWHO II/III–IV disease.