摘要：Objectives . We identified risk factors for pregnancy-associated homicide (women who died as a result of homicide during or within 1 year of pregnancy) in the United States from 1991 to 1999. Methods . Pregnancy-associated homicides were analyzed with data from the Pregnancy Mortality Surveillance System at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Results . Six hundred seventeen (8.4%) homicide deaths were reported to the Pregnancy Mortality Surveillance System. The pregnancy-associated homicide ratio was 1.7 per 100000 live births. Risk factors included age younger than 20 years, Black race, and late or no prenatal care. Firearms were the leading mechanism for homicide (56.6%). Conclusions . Homicide is a leading cause of pregnancy-associated injury deaths. Although the pregnancy-related mortality ratio, defined as the number of deaths caused by pregnancy complications per 100 000 live births, has remained relatively unchanged in the United States over the past 20 years, the number of injury-related deaths during pregnancy and the postpartum period is being increasingly recognized and studied, particularly deaths caused by homicide. In 1999, homicide was the third leading cause of injury-related death for all women (pregnant or not pregnant) of reproductive age, 15 to 44 years of age, after deaths caused by motor vehicle accidents and suicide, and it was the second leading cause of injury-related death among women aged 15 to 24 years and among Black women of reproductive age. 1 Moracco and Runyan reported the highest homicide rate occurring among women under the age of 35 and found that the homicide rate for Black women (15.8 per 100 000) was more than 3 times higher than that for White women (4.3 per 100 000). 2 Several state- and city-based studies have recently reported that homicide is a leading cause of death during pregnancy and in the postpartum period. 3– 9 One inner-city hospital study indicated that homicide has become the leading cause of death during or within 90 days of the end of pregnancy. 10 However, studies have not been conducted at the national or regional level that focus on the identification of risk factors for and groups at high risk of homicide during pregnancy or in the postpartum period. Our report describes homicide deaths occurring during or within 1 year of pregnancy in the United States from 1991 through 1999. We used a national, population-based data set to identify characteristics and risk factors associated with these deaths.
