The impact of state maternal mortality study committees on maternal deaths in the United States

State maternal mortality study committees have been widely credited with playing a prominent role in reducing maternal death rates in the United States. To evaluate this hypothesis, we compared the rates of decline in maternal mortality ratios by decades from 1938-40 to 1968-70 for states with such committees to those without. Ratios were calculated from published vital statistics of the United States, and committee initiation dates were obtained from a previous survey. States with committees and those without had nearly equal declines during the first decade; however, states with committees had smaller declines during the latter two decades. Although these committees may have been an important factor in the decline in maternal mortality in the United States, vital statistics data do not document larger declines for states with committees.