A recent study conducted by the University of Washington (UW) in the United States showed that an estimated 298,000 women worldwide died of pregnancy-related causes in 2013.

The number, however, is lower than the 376,000 pregnancy-related deaths recorded in 1990, researchers for the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at UW said in a study published in the LA Lancelet medical journal.

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The United States, Afghanistan, Greece, and various countries in Africa and Central America have seen increase in maternal deaths last year, the study showed.

In the US alone, some 800 women died from giving birth last year, or a ratio of 18.5 deaths for every 100,000 childbirths. In 1987, the ratio was 7.2 per 100,000 births.

That means material deaths in the US is more than double the maternal mortality rate in Canada and Saudi Arabia and almost triple the figure in the United Kingdom, the study showed.

The study, however, failed to establish the causes for the rise in maternal deaths in the US although it cited factors such as illnesses that cause a higher-risk in pregnancy and the advancement of reporting material deaths.

Nicholas Kassenbaum, the lead physician in the study, said conditions like neurological or hearth diseases, hypertension and diabetes are making pregnancies in the US riskier.

The US now ranks 60 on a list of 180 countries for maternal deaths while China ranks 57. While the US ranking showed an improvement from its rank of 22 in 1990, Kassenbaum said maternal deaths in the country remains stubbornly high.

In 2009, the H1N1 influenza pandemic caused a sharp spike in the number of maternal deaths in the US, said the Center for Disease Control (CDC).

Meanwhile, the CDC has released a list of the top five conditions that kill at least 900,000 Americans every year.

The top five conditions are cancer, heart disease, stroke, lung diseases, and injuries caused by road accidents or drug overdoses.