Federally funded non-profit approves US$80.5m for maternal health research

A federally funded non-profit has approved US$80.5m for research tackling the social and clinical care factors that contribute to maternal health inequities.

The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) has awarded the funding to support four comparative clinical effectiveness research (CER) studies focused on the healthcare and social factors that contribute to inequities in maternal morbidity and mortality. The trials are among 30 CER studies and related projects recently approved for PCORI funding.

The four CER studies will focus on populations disproportionately experiencing adverse maternal health outcomes, including Black people, Hispanic and Latin American individuals, those living in rural areas and individuals with lower incomes.

The projects aim to evaluate multicomponent interventions that address both healthcare and social determinants of health.

For each study, dual principal investigators from research institutions and community organisations will co-lead assessments of approaches intended to address the health challenges that impact maternal health in different communities.

“The usual approaches to health research and healthcare have not sufficiently addressed the alarming and worsening national crisis of maternal death and severe illness,” said PCORI executive director Nakela L. Cook.

“Patient-centred comparative clinical effectiveness research that responds to the many challenges concurrently facing pregnant individuals and those who care for them has the capacity to answer questions about which combinations of approaches can best resolve some of these complex maternal healthcare challenges that have for too long defied solutions.”

The studies, Cook said, will be conducted across a broad swath of the United States, including rural and urban areas and states in the Northeast, Midwest, Mid-Atlantic and the South. They will compare a range of practice-level and community- and home-based interventions that address common, frequent challenges facing pregnant individuals and new mothers.

Each of these studies are hoped to generate evidence to inform which approaches work best, for whom and in what circumstances.

Harv Feldman, PCORI deputy executive director for patient-centred research programmes, said: “These funding awards mark an important advancement of PCORI’s longstanding leadership in engaging patients and those who care for them in all aspects of comparative clinical effectiveness research to ensure that results are relevant, useful and impactful.

“We look forward to seeing the impact the studies’ findings will have for maternal health across the United States, particularly among populations that continue to disproportionately experience adverse outcomes.”