Half Hearted

Author

Alexander Brandfonbrener

Published

July 30, 2021

Black patients are disproportionately more vulnerable to death during childbirth, even after evaluating confounding factors. This graphic features the most startling odds ratios collected in our narrative review. The large hearts illustrate the severe maternal morbidity statistic, while number of smaller hearts reflect the magnitude of the odds ratio.

Five rows of hearts, with one large heart, a colon, and multiple smaller hearts on each row. The number of smaller hearts represent the relative increase in risk of a morbidity and mortality outcome among Black women as compared to white women. Pink, red, and purple hues are used, and imagery related to the outcome are embedded within the big hearts, such as a fallopian tube for death from ectopic pregnancy. — Half Hearted by Alexander Brandfonbrener

Sources:

Siddiqui A, Azria E, Egorova N, Deneux-Tharaux C, Howell EA. Contribution of Prepregnancy Obesity to Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Severe Maternal Morbidity. Obstet Gynecol. 2021 May 1;137(5):864-872. doi: 10.1097/AOG.0000000000004356. PMID: 33831920.

Creanga AA, Shapiro-Mendoza CK, Bish CL, Zane S, Berg CJ, Callaghan WM. Trends in ectopic pregnancy mortality in the United States: 1980-2007. Obstet Gynecol. 2011 Apr;117(4):837-843. doi: 10.1097/AOG.0b013e3182113c10. PMID: 21422853.

Malhamé I, Danilack VA, Raker CA, Hardy EJ, Spalding H, Bouvier BA, Hurlburt H, Vrees R, Savitz DA, Mehta N. Cardiovascular severe maternal morbidity in pregnant and postpartum women: development and internal validation of risk prediction models. BJOG. 2021 Apr;128(5):922-932. doi: 10.1111/1471-0528.16512. Epub 2020 Nov 4. PMID: 32946639.