Executive summary: Workshop on social determinants of health and obstetrical outcomes, February 1–2, 2022, cosponsored by the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine, the Commonwealth Foundation, and the Alliance for Innovation on Maternal Health, with support from the Society for Women’s Health Research

Addressing systemic racism and barriers posed by adverse social determinants of health (SDOH) is centrally important to improving obstetrical outcomes and eliminating health disparities.

To address the relationship between SDOH and obstetrical outcomes, leaders from multiple disciplines, including obstetrics, pediatrics, epidemiology, health services, health equity, community-based research, and systems biology, gathered for a 2-day workshop held during the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine (SMFM) 2022 Annual Pregnancy Meeting. Entitled “Social Determinants of Health and Obstetric Outcomes,” this workshop was cosponsored by SMFM, the Commonwealth Foundation, and the Alliance for Innovation on Maternal Health, and received support from the Society for Women’s Health Research. The goals of the workshop were to discuss the state of the science with regard to extant research and approaches, identify best practices and evidence gaps, and recommend next steps. Specifically, the goals were:

• To review the current evidence on the relationship between SDOH and obstetrical outcomes
• To discuss approaches to and research opportunities for the epidemiologic analysis of SDOH in obstetrical settings
• To discuss approaches to and research opportunities for measuring how SDOH manifest their effects physiologically (eg, epigenetically)
• To discuss approaches to and research opportunities for interventions and strategies to mitigate the detrimental effects of adverse SDOH and improve obstetrical outcomes

This executive summary presents a condensation of the main discussions that occurred during the workshop. A manuscript that elaborates on this summary and presents more detailed information and directions for future research will be published at a later date.