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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) established the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) in 1987 in response to indications that the United States low birthweight and infant mortality rates were no longer declining as rapidly as in past years. Research has indicated that certain maternal behaviors and experiences such as cigarette smoking, alcohol abuse, stressful life events and inadequate utilization of prenatal care may be restricting declines in these adverse pregnancy outcomes. In 1991, South Carolina (SC) PRAMS was implemented through a collaborative agreement between the CDC, the Office of Public Health Statistics and Information Services and the Bureau of Maternal and Child Health, SC Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC).

SC PRAMS is an ongoing, population-based survey that collects information on SC mothers who have recently given birth to a live-born infant. Each month approximately 200 women are sampled from the states live birth registry, and women who delivered a low birthweight infant are oversampled to ensure that adequate information is collected on high-risk groups. Selected mothers are mailed a PRAMS survey up to three times, and telephone interviewers attempt to reach the mothers who do not respond by mail. After statistical weights are applied to the data, inferences can be made about the health of mothers and babies in the state of SC.

The goals of the SC PRAMS Project are to monitor and describe maternal characteristics, attitudes, and behaviors during pregnancy and in early infancy and to describe relationships between known risk factors occurring before or during pregnancy and selected adverse pregnancy outcomes. SC PRAMS can also generate state data used for planning and assessing perinatal health programs and for assessing factors related to utilization of intervention programs.

The PRAMS survey provides state-specific data on maternal behaviors, attitudes, and experiences before, during, and shortly after pregnancy and delivery. Several topics on the survey include: pregnancy intention, smoking and alcohol use, psychosocial stress, family planning, barriers to health services, maternal nutrition, maternal obstetric history, infant health care, health insurance issues, income, and intendedness of pregnancy.

In addition to South Carolina, the following states and regions participate in the PRAMS program:

SC PRAMS findings are distributed in the form of an annual PRAMS databook and reports on selected maternal and infant health topics. The SC PRAMS project team is located in DHEC's Office of Public Health Statistics and Information Services Surveillance Unit and collaborates with Maternal and Child Health Program Directors and Epidemiologists within SC DHEC.

PRAMS RESOURCES

INTERACTIVE DATA: SCAN PRAMS Module - Generate interactive tables and charts from the survey results of the SC PRAMS program data from 1993 to 2007 Create a Table in SCAN SCAN Example

PRAMS DATA BOOKS : 2007 Databook 2006 Databook 2004-2005 Databook 2002 Databook

PUBLICATIONS: Infant Bed Sharing Report (April 2009) Sleep Position Report (September 2008) Comparing Smoking from Birth Certificates and PRAMS (March 2008) Sleep Position Fact Sheet (June 2008) Postpartum Depression Symptoms (Dec. 2007) Oral Health (April 2007) Infant mortality (Spring 99) Short inter-pregnancy intervals (Winter 99) Unintended pregnancy (Winter 99) Teen pregnancy(Fall 98) Poverty (Summer98) Pregnancy Summary (1993-98) Stress factors (1997)

Additional information can be obtained by contacting:
PRAMS, PHSIS Surveillance Unit
SC DHEC
2600 Bull Street
Columbia, SC 29201
Telephone: (803) 898-3740
Email: smithm4@dhec.sc.gov