Maternal and Infant Health Program

What is PRAMS?

The Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) is a surveillance project of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and health departments. PRAMS is an ongoing, state-specific, population-based survey designed to collect information on maternal experiences and behaviors prior to, during, and immediately following pregnancy among mothers who have recently given birth to a live infant. PRAMS was initiated in 1987 in an effort to reduce infant mortality and the incidence of low birth weight infants. Currently, there are 47 states conducting PRAMS surveillance. PRAMS surveillance in Utah began in May 1999.

Why is PRAMS important?

PRAMS provides data not available from any other source for public health officials to use to improve the health of mothers and infants.
PRAMS enhances information from birth certificates and is used to plan and review state maternal and infant health programs.
PRAMS allows CDC and the states to monitor changes in maternal and child health indicators (e.g. unintended pregnancy, prenatal care, breastfeeding, smoking, drinking, and infant health).
Maternal and infant health data can be compared among other participating states as the same data collection methods are used in all states.

How does Utah PRAMS work?

Each month, a sample of approximately 200 new mothers is randomly selected from Utah birth certificates. Approximately one out of every 19 new Utah mothers will be selected to participate in the PRAMS project.

PRAMS uses a combination of two data collection approaches: statewide mailings of the surveys and telephone follow-up with women who do not return the survey by mail.

Two to four months after delivery, an introductory letter is mailed to each woman in the sample. The PRAMS questionnaire is mailed a week later. A second and third questionnaire are mailed to those who do not respond. An experienced interviewer will then telephone mothers who have not responded to the mailings. Following this CDC-developed protocol, a 50% response rate is expected. The responses are then weighted to be representative of all women giving birth in Utah.

If you receive a PRAMS survey in the mail, please fill out the survey and return it in the provided postage-page envelope. You will receive a small token of appreciation with the survey and a small gift when the survey is returned.

What information does PRAMS collect?

The questionnaire consists of a core set of questions used by each of the participating states and state-specific questions developed to address each state’s particular data needs. The questionnaire covers the following topics:

Attitudes and feelings about the most recent pregnancy
Prenatal and postnatal care
Use of alcohol, tobacco, and e-cigarettes
Physical abuse
Social support and stress
Infant health care
Infant safe sleep
Mother’s knowledge about pregnancy
Oral health
Breastfeeding
Chronic health conditions of the mother
Contraception use
Health insurance coverage
Postpartum depression

How can data from PRAMS be used?

Findings from analyses of PRAMS data can be generalized to Utah’s entire population of women whose pregnancies resulted in a live birth. PRAMS data have been used to:

Enhance understanding of maternal behaviors and experiences and their relationship to adverse pregnancy outcomes
Develop and implement new maternal and child health programs and modify existing programs
Inform public health policy
Assist health professionals in incorporating the latest research findings into their standards of practice
Monitor progress toward local, state, and national health objectives and goals

Data Request Information

To obtain Utah PRAMS data, please use the PRAMS Data Request Form. Please be sure to include:

Name
Email Address
Brief Summary of your project
Data elements you are requesting
Years of data you are requesting

PRAMS IBIS Query Module

For analysis, PRAMS data can be accessed directly through the Utah IBIS-PH interactive query system, PRAMS data set queries.

For additional information…

If you have any questions or would like additional information about PRAMS, please call our Utah PRAMS Operations Manager in the Salt Lake metro area at 801-273-2874 or our toll-free number at 1-800-826-9662.

Or email us at: prams@utah.gov