# The Pennsylvania Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PA PRAMS)

> **NIH ALLCDC U01** · PENNSYLVANIA STATE DEPT OF HEALTH · 2020 · $157,500

## Abstract

Pennsylvania Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PA PRAMS)
 Component A: Core Surveillance
 Project Summary/Abstract
 The Pennsylvania Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PA PRAMS)
is an ongoing, population-based surveillance system designed to identify and monitor
selected maternal experiences, attitudes and behaviors that occur before and during
pregnancy, and during the child's early infancy. As an epidemiologic surveillance tool, it
serves an important role within the Pennsylvania Department of Health (PA DOH). The
PA PRAMS program is ideally positioned within the PA DOH's Bureau of Family Health
(BFH) which is the administrative hub of statewide programs and services addressing
the needs of mothers, infants and children. PA PRAMS data supplement existing vital
records and other sources of maternal, infant and child health data used by program
directors, managers and administrators to plan and evaluate programs.
 The PA PRAMS program engages a mixed-mode (mail and telephone) surveying
approach that adheres to the guidelines delineated within the PRAMS protocol. The
primary instrument of data collection, the questionnaire, serves to capture responses
across a wide range of maternal domains and variables. The population of interest is
women who are Pennsylvania residents who delivered a live-born infant within the state.
Through scientifically-based sampling, the survey is conducted such that the response
data is representative of all statewide mothers in the population of interest.
 PA PRAMS is operated as a collaborative project designed to inform services
and interventions statewide, driven primarily by the findings revealed. As such, analysis
priorities and plans are informed by the programs and groups impacted. It is an objective
of the project to continue generating and analyzing these rich, actionable datasets of
self-reported experiences, attitudes and behaviors. It remains an aim of PA PRAMS to
increase visibility and recognition as an ideal source of maternal and infant health
information.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9926877
- **Project number:** 5U01DP006223-05
- **Recipient organization:** PENNSYLVANIA STATE DEPT OF HEALTH
- **Principal Investigator:** Erin Emily McCarty
- **Activity code:** U01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** ALLCDC
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $157,500
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2016-05-01 → 2021-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9926877

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9926877, The Pennsylvania Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PA PRAMS) (5U01DP006223-05). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9926877. Licensed CC0.

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