The Louisiana Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) is a surveillance project of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Louisiana Office of Public Health?s Bureau of Family Health. Louisiana PRAMS collects state-specific, population- based information on maternal behaviors and experiences before, during and shortly after pregnancy. The overall goal of PRAMS is to reduce maternal and infant morbidity and mortality by collecting information that can be used to inform maternal and infant health programs that address maternal preconception and pregnancy health behaviors and craft systems-level policies facilitating improved access to services. Louisiana PRAMS draws a random sample of women who have had a recent live birth from the state's vital records file every month and typically samples around 1,400 women each year. Topics covered by the PRAMS survey include, but are not limited to: prenatal care, pregnancy intention and contraception practices, chronic conditions prior to pregnancy, alcohol and tobacco use prior to and during pregnancy, breastfeeding, maternal stress and experiences of violence and discrimination, infant sleep practices, and insurance status. Selected women are first contacted by mail. If there is no response to repeated mailings, women are contacted and interviewed by telephone. Data collection procedures and instruments are standardized to allow comparisons between PRAMS states. Louisiana PRAMS provides data that are not available from other sources. Results are used for program planning and resource allocation, identifying groups of women and infants at high risk for health problems, monitoring changes in health and practices, and measuring progress towards goals in improving the health of mothers and infants.
RESEARCH NARRATIVE Louisiana PRAMS is a population-based risk factor surveillance system designed to describe selected maternal behaviors and experiences before, during and after pregnancy. Louisiana PRAMS seeks to improve the health of mothers and infants by improving understanding of factors associated with adverse health outcomes and driving programs and policies to reduce maternal and infant mortality and morbidity.
