The Iowa Department of Public Health (IDPH), as part of a cooperative project with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), has released its first report of the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Survey (PRAMS). Iowa joined the PRAMS project in 2011 and began collecting data in February of 2013. Since that time, more than 5,000 Iowa mothers have been asked to provide information on their experiences and behaviors before, during and after pregnancy.

The first annual PRAMS Data Book is based on births to Iowa women in calendar year 2013. IDPH PRAMS Coordinator Sarah Mauch said “The purpose of PRAMS is to find out why some babies are born healthy and others are not.” Findings can then be used to guide program and policy development to better serve Iowa women who are at-risk for poor outcomes.

The overall response rate for Iowa PRAMS was 72 percent in 2013, well above the 60 percent minimum for PRAMS data to be considered valid. In 2013, there were 39,013 live births in Iowa. According to the PRAMS Data Book:

20,667 mothers reported their pregnancy was planned.
29,074 mothers reported ever breastfeeding their babies.
30,833 mothers said they primarily put their baby to sleep on his or her back – the safest position for infant sleep.
2,252 mothers reported some form of intimate partner violence.

Because this is the first publication of PRAMS data, there is only one year of data and trends won’t be identified until coming years of data are analyzed. To see the entire inaugural PRAMS Data Book, visit http://bit.ly/1lRVcvB. To learn more about PRAMS, visit http://idph.iowa.gov/prams.