UAMS Health Cardio-Obstetrics Program Saving Mothers’ Lives

Arkansas has the highest maternal mortality rate in the nation, with 38.3 deaths per 100,000 live births. To combat this crisis, Dr. Kalaivani Sivakumar and her colleagues at UAMS Health launched the Cardio-Obstetrics Program, a unique collaboration between the Maternal-Fetal Medicine team and the Heart Failure team. This multidisciplinary program, led in part by Dr. Sivakumar, provides comprehensive care for pregnant patients with heart disease, supporting them through pregnancy, delivery, and up to a year postpartum. Thanks to this initiative, maternal mortality rates have already dropped significantly — allowing more mothers to stay healthy and care for their babies. Learn how Dr. Sivakumar and the UAMS team are improving outcomes for mothers and families across Arkansas.

Transcript

Arkansas has the highest maternal mortality rate with 38.3 deaths for every 100,000 live births. This is the highest in the country. Keeping this in mind, the cardio obstetrics program was started. This team consists of providers from the maternal fetal medicine and providers from the heart failure team. Uh we are able to provide appropriate care for pregnant mothers throughout their pregnancy. We assist them during their

delivery and we are also able to take care of these patients up to one year postpartum. This program has already brought down the maternal mortality rates significantly lower and now we have an increased number of mothers, healthy mothers are able to take care of their babies.