Alaska Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS)
Alaska Department of Health and Social Services, Division of Public Health, Section of Women's, Children's, and Family Health, Maternal Child Health Epidemiology Unit, Alaska Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS)
The Pregnancy Risk-Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) is a survey of mothers of newborns that has been on-going in Alaska since 1990. PRAMS is a collaborative project between the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Division of Reproductive Health and the Alaska Division of Public Health. It collects information about behaviors and circumstances of Alaskan mothers and their infants surrounding the pregnancy and postpartum period. Sampled mothers are asked to participate by mail. Phone interviews are attempted with women who do not respond by mail. Outside of what Vital Records can provide, PRAMS is the premier source of population-based data on maternal and infant issues for Alaska.
As the sampling frame for PRAMS is drawn from birth certificates registered at the Bureau of Vital Statistics, PRAMS data are weighted to represent the entire population of women who delivered a live-born infant in Alaska in a particular birth year, whether or not the baby subsequently died or was adopted out. Some demographic data like maternal race, age, and residence are from the birth certificate, which are linked to survey responses. This allows for data breakouts by maternal characteristics, including geographic region of residence.
Topics
| Alcohol consumption | Anxiety and depression |
| Birth control use | Breastfeeding |
| Demographics | Family income |
| Health insurance | Home visiting |
| Infant sleep environment | Intimate partner violence |
| Postpartum checkup | Pregnancy intention |
| Prenatal care | Psychosocial stress |
| Obesity | Oral health |
| Other substance use | Smokeless tobacco use |
| Tobacco use | Vitamin use |
| WIC enrollment |
Survey of mothers of newborn infants
Mothers of newborn infants
Based upon birth certificates
PRAMS samples mothers who have recently had a live birth. Alaska does not routinely collect data on abortions or stillbirths. As such, data do not represent women who became pregnant in the time frame specified, only those who delivered a live-born infant.
Age, sex, race, and Hispanic origin
State and sub-state.
Mothers of newborn infants
Sampled mothers are asked to participate by mail. Phone interviews are attempted with women who do not respond by mail.
Voluntary with incentives. Some bias is expected from any survey based on self-reported information. The potential for under-reporting as well as over-reporting bias must be kept in mind when interpreting results. Survey response rates may also affect the potential for bias in the data.
Mothers of newborn infants sampled from birth certificates
The reliability of a prevalence estimate depends on the actual, unweighted number of respondents in a category (not a weighted number). Interpreting and reporting weighted numbers that are based on a small, unweighted number of respondents can be misleading. The degree of precision increases if the sample size is larger and decreases if the sample size is smaller.
Some PRAMS questions ask the respondent to remember events or behaviors up to 12 months before they got pregnant. On average, the infant is three to four months old at the time the mother responds to the questionnaire. Mothers who respond to the survey when their infant is younger may recall events more accurately than mothers who respond when their infant is older. Survey response rates may also affect the potential for bias in the data.
For data requests that cannot be satisfied through the above links, contact the PRAMS Coordinator, or email mch-epi@alaska.gov or call (907) 269-3400. Download the PRAMS or CUBS Summary Data Request form and submit it to mch-epi@alaska.gov. If you want to analyze a de-identified PRAMS dataset, submit a completedWCFH Data Utilization Agreement and Data Request form to mch-epi@alaska.gov. Data are also available for on-line analysis through the PRAMS query module at: PRAMS Query Module Configuration Selection
Kathy Perham-Hester, MS, MPH
PRAMS Coordinator
Kathy.Perham-Hester@alaska.gov
(907) 269-3447
Section of Women's, Children's and Family Health
Division of Public Health
Alaska Department of Health and Social Services
3601 C Street, Suite 358
Anchorage, Alaska 99503
PRAMS Coordinator
Kathy.Perham-Hester@alaska.gov
(907) 269-3447
Section of Women's, Children's and Family Health
Division of Public Health
Alaska Department of Health and Social Services
3601 C Street, Suite 358
Anchorage, Alaska 99503