MITRE researchers are addressing the critical challenge of reducing the U.S. rate of maternal mortality and severe maternal morbidity through a microsimulation tool that can help government leaders make more informed decisions.
Maternal Mortality and Morbidity Interactive Dashboard (3MID)
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MITRE researchers are addressing the critical challenge of reducing the U.S. rate of maternal mortality and severe maternal morbidity through a microsimulation tool that can help government leaders make more informed decisions. The United States is the only country in the developed world to see an increase in women dying from pregnancy-related complications—the rate has doubled in the past 20 years. And the number of deaths is three to four times higher for non-Hispanic Black women.
MITRE’s Maternal Mortality and Morbidity Interactive Dashboard (3MID) provides a virtual environment for researchers to test interventions designed to reduce maternal mortality and severe maternal morbidity rates based on local factors, including state-specific demographics and resources. The 3MID will “predict” the outcome of various approaches based on data analysis and theoretical assumptions.
For example, a 3MID user can analyze how budgets, social determinants of health, and the application of quality improvement toolkits could address the leading causes of pregnancy-related deaths and severe maternal morbidities. [Note: The toolkits were designed by the California Maternal Quality Care Collaboration (CMQCC) to address conditions such as obstetric hemorrhage and preeclampsia.]
Application
A user can select any state, locality (e.g., counties, parishes), and hospitals as parameters to deploy during a simulation run. The tool has broad application across the federal, state, and local governments to inform data-driven decision-making to reduce U.S. maternal mortality and morbidity rates. 3MID could also be leveraged by a non-profit agency within the maternal and child health space. Using the tool, the user could explore the following questions:
- What is the predicted number of pregnancies for non-Hispanic Black women, non-Hispanic white, and Hispanic women within a state?
- What is the predicted number of maternal deaths for non-Hispanic Black women, non-Hispanic white, and Hispanic women within a state?
- How many maternal deaths could have been prevented by the application of maternal care programming within a state?
- What would be the cost for hospitals (e.g., urban teaching, urban non-teaching, rural) to implement a certain program?
- How would the results change based on the selection on different levers within the tool?
Value Proposition
Decreasing the U.S. maternal mortality and severe maternal morbidity rate will improve the health and safety of thousands of citizens and increase social equity. Maternal health is in need of better data collection, analysis, and interpretation tools.
Benefits
3MID collates various data sources from across the U.S. to provide a holistic view of maternal health. The 3MID simulated environment allows users to test interventions designed to reduce maternal mortality and severe maternal morbidity within a geographic region. Data includes information on the local factors, including state-specific demographics and resources. By taking this data-driven approach, public health researchers and policy makers can create interventions that are targeted to their region’s leading causes of pregnancy-related death.
Additional Information
Inventors:
- Abdul Sheikhnureldin (lead developer)
- Rachel Mayer (PI)
- Alison Dingwall (Co-PI)
Technology Readiness Level:
TRL 3
Supporting Technical Paper:
Saving Women’s Lives: A Data-Driven Approach to Reduce Maternal Mortality
Demo Video:
In the developing world where pregnancy and childbirth can be risky, maternal
mortality rates are dropping—that's the good news—the bad news is closer to home.
Did you know that the United States is the only country in the developed world
to witness an increase in pregnancy related deaths?
It's natural for mothers and society to focus on baby's health; meanwhile nearly 1,000 expectant mothers
in this country die each year because of pregnancy-related conditions that are
preventable with timely and proper intervention.
This issue hits non-Hispanic Black women the hardest. For every Caucasian woman who dies from
pregnancy related conditions, between three and four Black women will also die.
We believe that saving these expectant mothers could start by searching the data.
So, MITRE researchers have developed a tool to assess the impact of funding
levels, healthcare access, as well as different toolkits to examine the impact
of these interventions on expectant mothers. We call this tool the
MITRE Maternal Mortality Interactive Dashboard.
A pilot study of the Maternal Mortality
Interactive Dashboard relies on detailed data from eight states that track
maternal mortality by race.
These datasets applied to the dashboard can
help identify quantitative correlations among demographic factors like race, age
socioeconomic status and maternal mortality.
For example, MITRE's maternal
mortality interactive dashboard forecasts the impact of efforts to
target common complications during pregnancy, including uncontrolled
bleeding, high blood pressure or blood clots.
Given a simulated population and
an interactive dashboard, these correlations help determine the
likelihood or risk of a woman dying as a result of pregnancy.
The MITRE Maternal Mortality Interactive Dashboard can help policymakers determine what
interventions might reduce the likelihood of maternal mortality.
And, it can help new mothers and their children get on with the business of living.
Other Related Publications:
- Women’s Health Issues Commentary: Documenting Maternal Deaths: Implications for National Statistics and Research
- Journal of Public Health Management & Practice Commentary: Let COVID-19 Serve as a Catalyst to Fix National Crisis of Poor Maternal Mortality Data
- Harvard’s Maternal Health Task Force Blog: Accuracy of Maternal Mortality Rates and Updated NCHS Methodologies: Data Quality Matters
- Health Affairs Blog: The United States Maternal Mortality Rate Will Continue To Increase Without Access To Data
- Baltimore Sun Opinion/Editorial: Tackling Racial Disparities in Maternal Health
- MITRE Knowledge-Driven Enterprise Podcast: Rachel Mayer on the Fight Against Maternal Mortality
