Last Updated: January 2023
Author: Division of Maternal and Child Health, Vermont Department of Health
The Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) is a survey of women who recently gave birth that asks about their experiences, behaviors, and healthcare utilization before, during and shortly after their pregnancy. Women receive the survey two to six months after giving birth. This report presents highlights for 2020 Vermont births.
According to the most recent PRAMS data, smoking cessation during pregnancy has been steady at 87% for 2019 and 2020, this is well below the HP 2020 goal of 98.6%. While the trend on this curve is steadily improving, the rate of improvement is slow.
The most recent available data is represented below:
Continued post partum supports for sustaining smoking cessation are also important, about one third (35%) of women who quit smoking during pregnancy resume smoking by the end of the first year after birth.
Policy factors influencing the curve include policies that have an impact on smoking rates in the general population, especially those that decrease smoking initiation among young women. Visit our tobacco surveillance page for more information on the work being across Vermont.
Efforts undertaken to address smoking cessation in pregnancy include:
According to the CDC:
This indicator is part of Healthy Vermonters 2020 (the State Health Assessment). This assessment documents the health status of Vermonters at the start of the decade and the population health indicators and goals that guided the work of public health through 2020. The Health department is excited to showcase the new set of Healthy Vermonters 2030 objectives coming soon. Click here for more information.
The CDC recommends the following individual strategies to address smoking in pregnancy:
MCH programs and partners continue to implement and support CDC recommended strategies.
Similar to statewide efforts, local partners are using data to drive local strategy. For regional data on Maternal and Infant Health indicators, check out our Public Health Data Explorer.
Data is updated as it becomes available and timing may vary by data source.
The PRAMS sample of women who have had a recent live birth is drawn from the state's birth certificate file. Each participating state samples between 1,300 and 3,400 women per year. Women from some groups are sampled at a higher rate to ensure adequate data are available in smaller but higher risk populations. Selected women are first contacted by mail. If there is no response to repeated mailings, women are contacted and interviewed by telephone. Data collection procedures and instruments are standardized to allow comparisons between states.