Georgia Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS)

The Georgia Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) is a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)-funded research project conducted by the Georgia Department of Public Health (DPH) designed to collect information on mothers and babies. Georgia PRAMS began in January 1993 and supplements birth certificate data by providing information on women's attitudes, experiences, and behaviors before, during, and after the delivery of their live born infant.

Georgia PRAMS Goal

The purpose of Georgia PRAMS is to improve the health of mothers and babies in Georgia by reducing the risk of adverse birth outcomes such as low birthweight, preterm birth, and infant and maternal morbidity and mortality. Georgia PRAMS provides essential data to identify high risk groups, select maternal and child health priorities, establish prevention programs, and make policy changes that can improve the health of mothers and babies in Georgia.

Georgia PRAMS data are used to identify groups of mothers and babies with a high risk for health problems, to monitor changes in health status, and to measure progress toward goals to improve the health of mothers and babies. Georgia PRAMS aids in the planning and evaluation of programs and policies aimed toward reducing health problems among mothers and babies in Georgia. Additionally, Georgia PRAMS data are used by researchers to investigate emerging issues in the field of maternal and child health.

Georgia PRAMS Publications

Georgia PRAMS Data Requests

For assistance requesting Georgia PRAMS data, please contact the Georgia PRAMS Team at DPH-GeorgiaPRAMS@dph.ga.gov.

Georgia PRAMS Questionnaires

Georgia PRAMS Methodology

Each month, a stratified random sample of approximately 100-200 mothers is chosen to participate from the Georgia birth certificate registry. Mothers are sent a Georgia PRAMS questionnaire two to six months post-delivery that consists of about 80 questions, along with an introductory letter, a question and answer brochure about Georgia PRAMS, a calendar, a consent letter, and a resource brochure that includes telephone numbers for various Georgia programs.

The Georgia PRAMS questionnaire consists of two parts. First, there are core questions that are asked by all participating PRAMS states, including questions about the following:

• Infant health care
• Contraceptive use
• Pregnancy-related morbidity
• Content and source of prenatal care
• Maternal alcohol and tobacco consumption
• Physical abuse before and during pregnancy
• Attitudes and feelings about the most recent pregnancy
• Mother's knowledge of pregnancy-related health issues such as adverse effects of tobacco and alcohol, benefits of folic acid, and risks of HIV

The remaining questions on the survey are chosen from a pretested list of standard questions developed by CDC. Georgia PRAMS includes expanded questions on prenatal care visits, breastfeeding, HIV testing and influenza vaccination during pregnancy, postpartum depression, and infant safe sleep.

PRAMS sites often oversample subpopulations to draw stronger conclusions about various factors of interest. Since 2004, Georgia PRAMS has stratified and oversampled by:

Note. *"Low Birthweight" refers to infants who weighed less than 2,500 grams at birth, while "Normal Birthweight" refers to infants who weighed 2,500 grams or more at birth; ⁺"Teen Mothers" refers to mothers who were 19 years old or younger at the time their new baby was born, while "Adult Mothers" refers to mothers who were 20 years old or older at the time their new baby was born.