Fewer people who gave birth in 2022 received adequate prenatal care compared to the previous year, and more Bay Staters used fertility treatment, according to a new publication. report of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.
DPH’s look back at the 68,579 births through 2022 showed some encouraging trends, including declining gestational diabetes and the teenage birth rate. However, there were worrying results in maternal health, such as the percentage of low birth weight babies reaching an all-time high when assessed over the past decade.
In response to years of worsening health outcomes, particularly among pregnant people of color, lawmakers on Beacon Hill this session passed a broad bill for maternal health care which is expected to improve access to care and address racial disparities.
The number of births decreased by 0.8% between 2021 and 2022. DPH said it is “too early to quantify or determine the significance of the slight increase in births between 2020 and 2021, followed by the decline of this year, so this trend must continue to be monitored”.
Teen birth rate declined “slightly” in 2022, but racial disparities persist. Compared to the birth rate for white teens, the metric is 10 times higher for Hispanic teens and nearly five times higher for black teens.
The rate of births to people with gestational diabetes declined for the first time in six years, but DPH said the number is “almost triple what it was in 2000.”
Nearly one in 13 babies born had a low birth weight, and DPH said the metric continues to “not improve after two decades.” The 2022 data shows that 5,369 babies had a low birth weight, defined as less than 5.5 pounds, while 741 babies had a very low birth weight of less than 3.3 pounds.
DPH says preterm births continue to rise, with one in 11 preterm births, which officials define as before 37 weeks of gestation. The rate is “even higher for non-Hispanic black births, with more than one in nine babies born prematurely,” according to the report.
Between 2021 and 2022, the share of births to people who received adequate prenatal care decreased from 78.5% to 76.7%, although the metric varied by insurance type. The data show that 82.9% of people with private insurance had adequate prenatal care, compared to 69.8% of people with public insurance. The report also shows that 82 percent of white women who gave birth received adequate prenatal care in 2022, compared to 66.6 percent of black women.
DPH said 4,454 people used fertility treatment in 2022, compared to 3,991 in 2021. Among those who received treatment, more turned to assisted reproductive technology such as IVF, with a rate that increased from 72.9% in 2021 to 76% in 2022. Nearly three-quarters of Bay Staters who used technology of assisted reproduction were white.