PRAMS
What is PRAMS?
PRAMS, the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System, is a surveillance project of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and state health departments. Developed in 1987, PRAMS collects state-specific, population-based data on maternal attitudes and experiences before, during, and shortly after pregnancy. PRAMS surveillance currently covers about 83% of all U.S. births.
PRAMS provides data not available from other sources. These data can be used to identify groups of women and infants at high risk for health problems, to monitor changes in health status, and to measure progress towards goals in improving the health of mothers and infants. PRAMS data are used by researchers to investigate emerging issues in the field of reproductive health and by state and local governments to plan and review programs and policies aimed at reducing health problems among mothers and babies.
The goal of the PRAMS project is to improve the health of mothers and infants by reducing adverse outcomes.
The PRAMS questionnaire has two parts—core questions that are asked by all states and standard questions developed by CDC.
Researchers may request the PRAMS Analytic Research File for studies that involve multiple states by submitting a proposal to CDC.
PRAMS surveillance system is a standardized data collection system.
Forty-seven states, New York City, Puerto Rico, the District of Columbia and the Great Plains Tribal Chairmen’s Health Board (GPTCHB) currently participate in PRAMS.
PRAMS has implemented enhanced surveillance approaches by modifying the standard protocol.
PRAMS surveillance data can be incorporated into public health decision making or translated in a variety of ways.
MMWRs and other PRAMS publications.
Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System for Dads: Public Health Surveillance of New Fathers in the Perinatal Period. Am J Public HealthExternal. Garfield CF, Simon CD, Harrison L, Besera G, Kapaya M, Pazol K, Boulet S, Grigorescu V, Barfield W, Warner L. 2018;108(10):1314–1315.
Nicotine Replacement Therapy and Other Interventions for Pregnant Smokers: Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System, 2009-2010External. Kapaya M, Tong V, Ding H. Prev Med. 2015 Sept;78: 92-100. DOI: 10.1016/j.ypmed.2015.07.008
Patterns of Health Insurance Coverage Around the Time of Pregnancy Among Women with Live-Born Infants — Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System, 29 States, 2009. D’Angelo DV, Le B, O’Neil ME, et al. MMWR Surveill Summ 2015;64(No. SS-4)
Influenza Vaccination Coverage Among Pregnant Women — United States, 2014–15 Influenza Season. Helen Ding, MD, Carla L. Black, PhD, Sarah Ball, ScD, et al. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2015;64:1000-5
Provider communication on perinatal depression: a population-based study.External Farr SL, Ko JY, Burley K, Gupta S. Arch Womens Ment Health. 2015 Jan 13. PMID:25578631
Data table with selected MCH indicators from 2012-2015. Data is presented for all PRAMS sites and also presented by individual state.
The PRAMS Data Portal has a PRAMS dataset for each year from 2000 – 2011.
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