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| Sponsor: | U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS)/Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) |
| Description: | PNSS is a program-based public health surveillance system that monitors risk factors associated with infant mortality and poor birth outcomes among low-income pregnant women who participate in federally funded public health programs including Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), and Title V, the Maternal and Child Health Program (MCH). Data include indicators of maternal health and maternal health behavior including pre-pregnancy weight status, parity, and diabetes. National PNSS data are available as published tables. States have the option of making the data publicly available. North Carolina, California, and West Virginia make state data available for download through the Internet. |
| Relevant Policy Issues: | Measurement of Health Status, Disease-specific Measurements, and Health Disparities. |
| Data Type(s): | Program reporting data |
| Unit of Analysis: | Individual |
| Identification of AI/AN/NA: | The racial/ethnic categories used in this data set include the following:
|
| AI/AN/NA Population in Data Set: | Of the 856,123 total records in 2004, 11,686 were identified as AI/AN. |
| AI/AN/NA Subpopulations: | State data are broken out by race and include some tribe identifiers: Cheyenne River Sioux (SD), InterTribal Council of Arizona, Rosebud Sioux Tribe (SD), Chickasaw Nation (OK), Navajo Nation (AZ), Standing Rock Sioux Tribe (ND). |
| Geographic Scope: | PNSS is a national surveillance system. Other geographic identifiers
include states (all except for Washington, Alaska, New Mexico, Oklahoma,
Texas, Virginia, North Carolina, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Mississippi,
Arizona) and selected tribes (see above).
Geographic analysis is possible at the national level through review of the published tables. Additionally, California has its data available at the following website: http://www.dhs.ca.gov/pcfh/cms/onlinearchive/pdf/chdp/informationnotices/2003/chdpin03q/contents.htm. North Carolina provides state-specific data from 1997 - present: http://www.nutritionnc.com/nutrsurv.htm. West Virginia provides state-specific data from 1998 - present: http://www.wvdhhr.org/ons/surveillance.asp. |
| Date or Frequency: | Trend tables present data from 1994 – 2003. |
| Data Collection Methodology: | Federally funded health clinics serving pregnant women participate on a voluntary basis and report data to state-level agencies, which in turn submit the data to the CDC. These data are combined for annual reporting. |
| Participation: | Optional, without incentives |
| Strengths: | Registry contains a large number of AI/AN/NA respondents. Data are collected on key policy issues, including health, particularly maternal risk factors associated with infant mortality and peer birth outcomes. There are multiple years of data available. |
| Limitations: | Pacific Islanders are not separated from Asians. Not all states, or federally
funded clinics within states, participate in this surveillance system; therefore,
data are not representative of pregnant women served by programs such as
the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children
(WIC); Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnostic, and Treatment Services (EPSDT);
and other Maternal and Child Health Bureau programs.
The racial/ethnic distribution of individuals served by contributing clinics is presented by state and for some tribes; however, there is no such geographic breakdown for any of the health indicators collected in the data source in the published tables. |
| Access Requirements and Use Restrictions: | National data set is not available to the public, but published tables and reports are available. |
| Contact Information: | Data tables can be accessed through the following website:
http://www.cdc.gov/pednss/pnss_tables/index.htm
State-level data are available from North Carolina, California, and West Virginia. See above for Internet locations of these data. |
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