{"id":16704,"date":"2021-11-04T11:11:31","date_gmt":"2021-11-04T15:11:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=16704"},"modified":"2021-11-04T11:11:41","modified_gmt":"2021-11-04T15:11:41","slug":"polk-county-ranks-poorly-in-new-maternal-vulnerability-index","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2021\/11\/04\/polk-county-ranks-poorly-in-new-maternal-vulnerability-index\/","title":{"rendered":"Polk County Ranks Poorly In New &#8216;Maternal Vulnerability&#8217; Index"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Pregnant women in Polk County have a very high vulnerability to poor health outcomes, according to a new analysis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"726\" height=\"484\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1110px) 100vw, 1110px\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/shutterstock_261991445.webp?resize=726%2C484&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-16705\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The U.S. is far behind most other developed countries when it comes to maternal health, for reasons that are complex. A new index aims to pinpoint the key factors on a local level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The new<a href=\"https:\/\/mvi.surgoventures.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">&nbsp;maternal vulnerability index<\/a>, compiled by the nonprofit Surgo Ventures, ranks counties and states on factors including general and reproductive health care, mental health and substance abuse, socioeconomic factors and the physical environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The index, which ranges from zero to 100, is based on 43 indicators. A higher score indicates a greater likelihood for poor pregnancy outcomes including preeclampsia, premature birth and maternal death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Polk County ranks in the &#8220;very high&#8221; risk category for maternal health with an index score of 86.5, according to Surgo Ventures. Comparatively, all of Florida scored a 74.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Reproductive health care: 64.0<\/li><li>Physical health: 85.5<\/li><li>Mental health and substance abuse: 73.9<\/li><li>General health care: 82.3<\/li><li>Socioeconomic determinants: 82.1<\/li><li>Physical environment: 48.3<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Florida breakdown<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Reproductive health care: 84<\/li><li>Physical health: 68.0<\/li><li>Mental health and substance abuse: 82<\/li><li>General health care: 59.0<\/li><li>Socioeconomic determinants: 76<\/li><li>Physical environment: 42<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;When it comes to a mother&#8217;s health and survival, the United States fares worst among high-income countries,&#8221; said Surgo Ventures CEO Dr. Sema K. Sgaier. &#8220;What&#8217;s been even less carefully explored is the degree to which a woman&#8217;s environment contributes to her risk of pregnancy-related death or other poor health outcomes.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">About 700 women die in the U.S. annually from pregnancy-related health conditions, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Surgo Ventures found that maternal vulnerability is highest in the South and Midwest, as well as many rural areas. However, most areas of the country can stand to improve: More than half of all U.S. counties have at least one of the six subcategories that fall in the &#8220;very high&#8221; risk category.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Black and American Indian and Alaska Native women of reproductive age were more likely to live under worse conditions for maternal health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;We know that common sociodemographic factors such as education and income don&#8217;t protect women of color from being subject to worse maternal health outcomes,&#8221; said Dr. Ololade Okito, a neonatologist at Children&#8217;s National Hospital, during a panel discussion about maternal vulnerability. &#8220;I believe the Maternal Vulnerability Index can be a powerful tool for bridging the racial maternal health gap, helping us better understand, and design solutions around, the content and context of women&#8217;s lives.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Racial and ethnic disparities continue to exist even when accounting for education and other factors, according to a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/mmwr\/volumes\/68\/wr\/mm6835a3.htm?s_cid=mm6835a3_w\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">2019 CDC study.<\/a>&nbsp;The study found that black women have a pregnancy-related death rate three times that of white women.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Pregnant women in Polk County have a very high vulnerability to poor health outcomes, according to a new analysis. The U.S. is far behind most other developed countries when it&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16705,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"0","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","default_image_id":71799,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[6],"tags":[1607],"class_list":["post-16704","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","tag-polk-county-ranks-poorly-in-new-maternal-vulnerability-index"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16704","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16704"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16704\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16705"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16704"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16704"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16704"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}