Abstract
To describe response rates and characteristics associated with response to the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System study in Ireland (PRAMS Ireland). Using hospital discharge records of live births at a large, urban, obstetric hospital, a sampling frame of approximately 2,400 mother-infant pairs were used to alternately sample 1,200 women. Mothers’ information including name, address, parity, age and infant characteristics such as sex and gestational age at delivery were extracted from records. Modes of contact included an invitation letter with option to opt out of the study, three mail surveys, a reminder letter and text message reminder for remaining non-respondents. Sixty-one per cent of women responded to the PRAMS Ireland survey over a 133 day response period. Women aged <30, single women, multiparous women and women with a preterm delivery were less likely to respond. Women participating in PRAMS Ireland were similar to the national birth profile in 2011 which had a mean age of 32, were 40 % primiparous, 33 % single or never married and had a 28 % caesarean section rate. Survey and protocol changes are required to increase response rates above recommended Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) thresholds of 65 % within the recommended 90 day data collection cycle. Additional efforts such as stratification and over-sampling are required to increase representativeness among hard to reach groups such as younger, single and multiparous women before expanding the project to an ongoing, national surveillance system in Ireland.
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Notes
Health insurance is used to pay for private care in hospital or from various health professionals in hospitals or in their practices which may substitute or supplement public health care provided by the state.
A medical card issued by the Health Service Executive (HSE) allows the holder to receive certain health services free of charge. To qualify for a medical card your weekly income must be below a certain figure for your family size. Cash income, savings, investments and property (except for your own home) are taken into account in the means test. The Irish medical card can be viewed as somewhat equivalent to Medicaid in the United States.
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This work was conducted with both the administrative and financial support of the National Perinatal Epidemiology Centre, Cork and staff of Cork University Maternity Hospital. This work was also part funded by the Health Research Board in Ireland under Grant No. PHD/2007/16.
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O’Keeffe, L.M., Kearney, P.M. & Greene, R.A. Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System in Ireland: Methods and Response Rates. Matern Child Health J 19, 480–486 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-014-1527-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-014-1527-7