The 2017-19 Pregnancy Associated Mortality Review (PAMR) Report shares findings from the LA-PAMR Committee’s review of pregnancy-associated deaths occurring between 2017-19, including findings related to racial disparities, and recommendations for prevention. LA-PAMR works to quantify and understand pregnancy-associated deaths in order to create actionable, comprehensive recommendations to prevent future deaths.

Pregnancy-associated deaths include:

• Pregnancy-related deaths: The death of a woman during pregnancy or within one year of the end of pregnancy from a pregnancy complication, a chain of events initiated by the pregnancy, or the aggravation of an unrelated condition by the physiologic effects of pregnancy (example cause of death: preeclampsia or eclampsia).
• Pregnancy-associated, but not related deaths: The death of a woman during pregnancy or within one year of the end of pregnancy from a cause that is not related to pregnancy (example cause of death: car crash).
• Pregnancy-associated, but unable to determine relatedness deaths: A pregnancy-associated death where the cause of death is unable to be determined as “pregnancy-related” or “pregnancy-associated, but not related” (example cause of death: suicide).

This report contains data and information on the School-Based Health Centers affiliated with the Office of Public Health Adolescent School Health Initiative for the 2020-21 school year.

The Louisiana Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) is a population-based survey of women who deliver a live-born infant within a given calendar year. The 2020 Louisiana PRAMS Data Report, a compilation of Louisiana PRAMS results for selected indicators, highlights data for births occurring in 2020. In 2020, there were 55,666 live births that satisfied the Louisiana PRAMS inclusion criteria, of which 1,237 were sampled. Of this sample, there were 698 respondents, resulting in a 57 percent overall weighted response rate.

Highlights from this edition:

• Louisiana PRAMS participated in the COVID-19 Supplement in conjunction with CDC PRAMS as part of a national evaluation of how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted pregnancy. Six months of data from the COVID-19 Supplement were included in the 2020 data.
• In 2020, Louisiana PRAMS included additional survey questions regarding maternal disability.
• 17.5% of PRAMS respondents reported not initiating prenatal healthcare as early as desired because they “didn’t have enough money or insurance.”
• 34.3% of respondents reported working jobs that did not offer paid maternity leave.
• 67.8% of respondents received breastfeeding resources through family or friends.
• 58.7% of respondents reported that their birthing hospital “provided information about how to protect [their] baby from COVID-19 after discharge.”

Louisiana PRAMS data can be used by program planners, health care providers, policy makers, and public health leaders to design, implement, and evaluate programs and services for women and infants in Louisiana.

Click here to view the full report.

This report provides information on initiatives authorized by the Commission that focus on reducing maternal and infant deaths, including the Louisiana Perinatal Quality Collaborative (LaPQC) and the Pregnancy Associated Mortality Review (PAMR). Legislative and policy priorities considered by the Commission are also identified in the report. One highlight is that legislation was passed in 2019 that authorizes the Louisiana Department of Health to promulgate and publish rules and regulations for the licensing of free-standing birth centers.

There hasn’t been much research on the benefits of fathers to the family unit. This literature shares (1) the benefits of an engaged father to the father, child, and mother (2) what fathers are saying and (3) shares national and Louisiana specific initiatives that support fathers.