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Alarmed that the U.S. is the most dangerous affluent country in which to give birth, state and local lawmakers around the country are adopting a flurry of bipartisan bills aimed at reforming how maternal deaths are identified and investigated. In Indiana earlier this month, Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb signed a bill creating a maternal mortality review committee to scrutinize deaths and near-deaths among expectant and new mothers and make policy recommendations to improve maternal health. (Martin and Fields, 3/26)

Doctors researching unexpected infant deaths have discovered a baffling trend: The rate of those deaths among newborns has remained unchanged even as the numbers in older infants have dropped over 20 years. The finding on sudden and unexpected infant deaths (SUID) is surprising, says Joel Bass, chair of the pediatrics department at Newton-Wellesley Hospital in Newton, Mass., and first author of the study.“That’s more than one newborn baby dying of SUID a day,” says Dr. Bass, whose team’s research appeared in the Journal of Pediatrics in February. “A normal newborn is not supposed to die.” (Reddy, 3/26)

Kaiser Health News: Tele-Monitoring Can Reduce Medical Appointments For Low-Risk Pregnancies

When Allison Matthews was pregnant with her first child four years ago, her obstetrics clinic scheduled frequent appointments to make sure everything was proceeding normally. “I was taking time off work and it wasn’t doing a lot for me,” said Matthews, who was considered at low risk for complications like pregnancy-related high blood pressure, also known as preeclampsia. “I kind of felt like I was almost doing it more for the clinic’s benefit than for myself.” (Andrews, 3/27)

Children with autism spectrum disorder are significantly less likely to be fully vaccinated than children unaffected by autism, new research finds. And the same is true of their younger sisters and brothers. "This study is showing that children with autism and their younger siblings might be at greater risk of vaccine-preventable diseases," said Ousseny Zerbo, lead author of the study and a postdoctoral fellow with the Kaiser Permanente Northern California Division of Research. (Scutti, 3/26)