Chronic health issues affect maternal fatality rate
A rise in the fatality rate in pregnancy seems to be related to chronic health problems such as obesity, diabetes and heart disease, experts say.
The increase might also have occurred because women are having children later in life.
According to the National Center for Biotechnology, from 2000 to 2014, maternal mortality rates in the U.S. rose 26.6 percent. Meanwhile, global maternal mortality rates fell by more than a third, according to the New York Times.
