Vermont Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS)

Vermont PRAMS (Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System) is an ongoing survey of Vermont mothers who have recently given birth. PRAMS is a project of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Vermont Department of Health. The goal of PRAMS is to improve the health of mothers and infants by reducing adverse outcomes such as low birth weight, infant mortality and morbidity, and maternal morbidity.

PRAMS was initiated nationally in 1987 because infant mortality rates were no longer declining as rapidly as they had in prior years. Vermont PRAMS began collecting data in 2001 in response to increasing low birth weight rates in the state in the late 1990s. Forty-seven states, New York City, Puerto Rico, the District of Columbia and the Great Plains Tribal Chairmen’s Health Board currently participate in PRAMS, representing approximately 83% of all U.S. live births.

Vermont PRAMS provides data about pregnancy and the first few months after birth that is not available from other sources. These data can be used to identify groups of women and infants at high risk for health problems, to monitor changes in population health, and to measure progress towards goals in improving the health of mothers and infants.