The Economics of Adverse Perinatal Outcomes: What Does the Literature Show?
Posted in Research Briefs SBSM Uncategorized
Developed as part of the Safe Babies Safe Moms (SBSM) health economics research program, the reviews trace the progression of evidence that reshaped our analytic framework—moving from traditional measures of perinatal risk and healthcare utilization toward a broader understanding of how maternal mental health drives persistent economic impacts across families, employers, public programs, and society. Notably, our increased focus on maternal mental health emerged from an assessment that, while the importance of perinatal mood and anxiety disorders was consistently acknowledged in the literature, their costs and consequences were among the least well-developed and least operationalized areas of existing research. This gap—between recognized importance and analytic precision—left critical questions unresolved and underscored the need for further investigation, which continues to shape our ongoing research agenda. documents the progression of evidence that shaped the SBSM health economics research agenda, particularly our growing recognition of maternal mental health conditions as a major driver of long-term societal costs following pregnancy and the methodological challenges for quantifying the contribution of maternal mental health within the burden of perinatal outcomes. Although originally prepared for an internal research audience, these reviews are shared here to support broader inquiry into how maternal mental health is defined, measured, and valued across health, social, and economic systems as represented in health services research.