Risk Factors for Pregnancy-Associated
Homicide
"For every 100,000 live
births in the
In 1999 homicide was the
third leading cause of injury-related death among all women (pregnant and nonpregnant) ages 15 through 44 and the second leading
cause among women ages 15 through 24 and among black women ages 15 through 44.
According to the authors, studies have not been conducted at the national or
regional level that focus on the identification of risk factors for and groups
at high risk of homicide during pregnancy or in the postpartum period. This
report describes homicide deaths occurring within 1 year of pregnancy in the
The authors used the
Pregnancy Mortality Surveillance System (PMSS), a national, population-based
data set, to identify characteristics and risk factors associated with these
deaths. A pregnancy-associated death is defined as one occurring during or
within 1 year of pregnancy.
The authors found that
* Of all the pregnancy-associated
injury-related deaths reported to PMSS during the study period, 617 (31%) were
the result of homicide.
* The overall
pregnancy-associated homicide ratio for black women (6.4) was about seven times
higher than that for white women (0.9).
* Women ages 19 and under of
all races combined had the highest pregnancy-associated homicide ratio, and the
ratio decreased as the woman's age increased.
* For both white and black
women, those who started prenatal care in the first trimester had the lowest
pregnancy-associated homicide ratios.
* Firearms were the leading
mechanism of pregnancy-associated homicide.
The authors conclude that
"homicide is the second leading cause of injury-related deaths among
pregnant and postpartum women."
Chang J, Berg CJ, Saltzman LE, et al. 2005. Homicide: A leading cause of
injury deaths among pregnant and postpartum women in the United States,
1991-1999. American Journal of Public Health 95(3):471-477. Abstract
available at http://www.ajph.org/cgi/content/abstract/95/3/471.