美国国家公共电台 NPR--Commonsense initiative aims to reduce maternal mortality among Black women

Commonsense¹ initiative aims to reduce maternal² mortality among Black women

Transcript³

An initiative in Boston helps them monitor blood pressure by giving women a blood pressure cuff⁴ to take home. (Story aired on Weekend Edition Sunday on March 26, 2023.

A MART?NEZ, HOST:

Black women are nearly three times more likely than white women to die of pregnancy⁵-related causes. A hospital in Boston hopes to change that by helping⁶ patients track their blood pressure at home. From member station WBUR in Boston, Priyanka Dayal McCluskey reports.

PRIYANKA DAYAL MCCLUSKEY, BYLINE⁷: With both feet flat on the floor, Kennise Nevers settles into a sofa in her living room. She peels open a blood pressure cuff and straps⁸ it around her arm.

(SOUNDBITE OF VELCRO RIPPING)

MCCLUSKEY: She gets her reading in about a minute.

(SOUNDBITE OF MACHINE WHIRRING)

KENNISE NEVERS: It's perfect.

MCCLUSKEY: This blood pressure cuff is high tech. Like a cellphone texting a message, Nevers' cuff sends information straight to her electronic health record, where her nurse, Megan O'Brien, can see the numbers 20 miles away at Boston Medical Center.

MEGAN O'BRIEN: So the first thing I do every morning is look at all of the high readings that have come in since the night before.

MCCLUSKEY: High blood pressure is known as the silent killer⁹ because it can rise to dangerous levels without symptoms, and it can lead to serious problems during pregnancy. If O'Brien sees a concerning blood pressure reading, she follows up. Close monitoring can help doctors and nurses step in before a patient is in danger.

O'BRIEN: We're intervening so much quicker in these potential problems that, you know, could be happening at home - stroke, heart attack, seizure¹⁰. So it's really about catching¹¹ those as fast as possible.

MCCLUSKEY: This effort at Boston Medical Center has another goal - to reduce the stark¹² racial disparities in maternal health. Dr. Tina Yarrington is the hospital's director of maternal fetal medicine. She has seen a lot of pregnancies¹³ that didn't go well, and the problems often started with high blood pressure, or hypertension.

TINA YARRINGTON: It's the root cause for many, many maternal health inequities. People who are marginalized by structural¹⁴ racism¹⁵ - people who are Black, African American, Latina, Hispanic - suffer higher levels of hypertension and higher levels of complications when that hypertension strikes.

MCCLUSKEY: When blood pressure rises suddenly in pregnancy, it's called preeclampsia. Yarrington says this condition affects about 14% of the hospital's white patients.

YARRINGTON: But in our Black and African American population, it's closer to 18%.

MCCLUSKEY: Dr. Rose Molina is an OB-GYN at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. She studies maternal health disparities, and she's hopeful.

ROSE MOLINA: I think that's one of the most exciting things about this is that it does have the potential to reduce inequities because it brings care home.

MCCLUSKEY: Early results are promising¹⁶. Kennise Nevers was eight months pregnant and cooking for a big family dinner one evening last October when her blood pressure suddenly spiked¹⁷.

NEVERS: We were actually getting ready to play cards, and I was like, oh, let me just check my blood pressure before I play. And, yep, night ended pretty quick.

MCCLUSKEY: Nevers went to the hospital. And the next day, doctors induced labor¹⁸. Her baby, AJ, was born three weeks early, but strong and healthy.

NEVERS: Hey. Hi.

MCCLUSKEY: Nevers says she's grateful that doctors and nurses watched her so closely during pregnancy and after.

NEVERS: I mean, of course you're always going to worry. It's pregnancy. Things change all the time. But it eased some of my worry.

MCCLUSKEY: Nevers made it past the high-risk postpartum days without developing a complication. But she has chronic¹⁹ hypertension, so she still keeps her blood pressure cuff handy.

For NPR News, I'm Priyanka Dayal McCluskey in Boston.

(SOUNDBITE OF GUILTY GHOSTS' "THE PEOPLE YOU LOVE")

1 commonsense   

adj.有常识的；明白事理的；注重实际的

参考例句：

• It is commonsense to carry an umbrella in this weather.这种天气带把伞是很自然的。
• These results are no more than a vindication of commonsense analysis.这些结果只不过是按常理分析得出的事实。

2 maternal   

adj.母亲的，母亲般的，母系的，母方的

参考例句：

• He is my maternal uncle.他是我舅舅。
• The sight of the hopeless little boy aroused her maternal instincts.那个绝望的小男孩的模样唤起了她的母性。

3 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

4 cuff   

n.袖口；手铐；护腕；vt.用手铐铐；上袖口

参考例句：

• She hoped they wouldn't cuff her hands behind her back.她希望他们不要把她反铐起来。
• Would you please draw together the snag in my cuff?请你把我袖口上的裂口缝上好吗？

5 pregnancy   

n.怀孕，怀孕期

参考例句：

• Early pregnancy is often accompanied by nausea.怀孕早期常有恶心的现象。
• Smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of miscarriage.怀孕期吸烟会增加流产的危险。

6 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

7 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

8 straps   

n.带子( strap的名词复数 )；挎带；肩带；背带v.用皮带捆扎( strap的第三人称单数 )；用皮带抽打；包扎；给…打绷带

参考例句：

• the shoulder straps of her dress 她连衣裙上的肩带
• The straps can be adjusted to suit the wearer. 这些背带可进行调整以适合使用者。

9 killer   

n.杀人者，杀人犯，杀手，屠杀者

参考例句：

• Heart attacks have become Britain's No.1 killer disease.心脏病已成为英国的头号致命疾病。
• The bulk of the evidence points to him as her killer.大量证据证明是他杀死她的。

10 seizure   

n.没收；占有；抵押

参考例句：

• The seizure of contraband is made by customs.那些走私品是被海关没收的。
• The courts ordered the seizure of all her property.法院下令查封她所有的财产。

11 catching   

adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住

参考例句：

• There are those who think eczema is catching.有人就是认为湿疹会传染。
• Enthusiasm is very catching.热情非常富有感染力。

12 stark   

adj.荒凉的；严酷的；完全的；adv.完全地

参考例句：

• The young man is faced with a stark choice.这位年轻人面临严峻的抉择。
• He gave a stark denial to the rumor.他对谣言加以完全的否认。

13 pregnancies   

怀孕，妊娠( pregnancy的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Since the wartime population needed replenishment, pregnancies were a good sign. 最后一桩倒不失为好现象，战时人口正该补充。
• She's had three pregnancies in four years. 她在四年中怀孕叁次。

14 structural   

adj.构造的，组织的，建筑（用）的

参考例句：

• The storm caused no structural damage.风暴没有造成建筑结构方面的破坏。
• The North American continent is made up of three great structural entities.北美大陆是由三个构造单元组成的。

15 racism   

n.民族主义；种族歧视(意识)

参考例句：

• He said that racism is endemic in this country.他说种族主义在该国很普遍。
• Racism causes political instability and violence.种族主义道致政治动荡和暴力事件。

16 promising   

adj.有希望的，有前途的

参考例句：

• The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
• We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。

17 spiked   

adj.有穗的；成锥形的；有尖顶的

参考例句：

• The editor spiked the story. 编辑删去了这篇报道。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They wondered whether their drinks had been spiked. 他们有些疑惑自己的饮料里是否被偷偷搀了烈性酒。 来自辞典例句

18 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

19 chronic   

adj.(疾病)长期未愈的，慢性的；极坏的

参考例句：

• Famine differs from chronic malnutrition.饥荒不同于慢性营养不良。
• Chronic poisoning may lead to death from inanition.慢性中毒也可能由虚弱导致死亡。