Virginia Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS)

Description

PRAMS is a survey of mothers who have recently had a baby. PRAMS provides information about a woman's experiences before, during, and after a pregnancy that resulted in a live birth. PRAMS is administered annually to about 2,000 mothers who are randomly chosen from Virginia birth certificates.

How the Community can use the Data

PRAMS data helps public health professionals, healthcare providers, policymakers, and community organizations understand the factors that impact maternal and infant health in Virginia. Communities can use this data to identify health disparities, develop programs that support healthy pregnancies and infant outcomes, inform policy decisions, and guide interventions aimed at improving maternal health services and reducing risks for mothers and babies across the Commonwealth.

Data Limitations

The data relies on self-reported information from new mothers, which may be subject to recall bias or inaccuracies. Participation is voluntary, and not all selected individuals choose to respond, which may affect the representativeness of the results. Additionally, PRAMS focuses on mothers with live births and does not include data on pregnancies that ended in miscarriage or stillbirth. The findings reflect a specific time period and may not capture long-term trends or outcomes.