African-American women are twice as likely to suffer a late-pregnancy loss as white women

Researchers at the National Institutes of Health found that among more than 5 million pregnancies in 2001 and 2002, black women were more likely than white or Hispanic women to have a stillbirth. Among African Americans, 22 of every 1,000 pregnancies ended in a stillbirth. That compared with 10 and 10.5 per 1,000 among white and Hispanic women, respectively. Health conditions like high blood pressure and diabetes and certain complications during pregnancy - such as uterine bleeding and premature rupture of the sac surrounding the fetus - explained a larger share of black women's stillbirth risk compared with white and Hispanic women.