Support Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System Data Collection
Below is an excerpt from a public comment submitted for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in regard to the regulation "Support Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System Data Collection" on January 7, 2026.
Dear Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
Thank you for the opportunity to comment on CDC-2025-0750-0001. I am a pregnancy researcher at Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana, studying the effects of medical, social, and behavioral factors on maternal and child health. I write to encourage the continuation of the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) data collection.
PRAMS is one of our most important sources of data for understanding the health of pregnant women and their children. It is one of the few population-based data sources for many aspects of pregnancy and postpartum health, particularly mental health and behavioral health, and about postpartum experiences like breastfeeding. These data are not available in other systems (like vital statistics or health records), and give a comprehensive understanding of pregnancy health stretching from preconception through early postpartum. Its core measures+supplement design allows for both flexibility by individual states, and comparability across states.