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Tracking Preconception Health in North Carolina

Preconception health is a national priority that focuses on improving birth outcomes, reducing the risk of infant mortality, and transforming the health of women before, during, between, and beyond pregnancy. North Carolina has been a leader in preconception health and continues to drive innovation nationwide. In collaboration with maternal and child health experts across the state, the Division of Public Health developed a strategic plan to address preconception health issues. The North Carolina Strategic Plan examines how energy and resources can best be invested to improve the health of North Carolina's women and children and offers new strategies to achieve this vision.

In an effort to measure and track the health status of women of childbearing age, a steering committee was established by the Public Health Work Group (PHWG) of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Select Panel on Preconception Care. This steering committee researched, analyzed and developed a recommended list of Core State Preconception Health and Health Care Indicators. The tabular data collected below is designed to be the first step in reporting and tracking these preconception health measures for North Carolina in order to guide efforts to improve the health and wellness of women of reproductive age across the state.

Core State Preconception Health Indicators by Domain and Sub-Domain for Women Aged 18-44 Years: North Carolina Trends Over Time

Domain	Sub-Domain	#	Indicator	Data source	Links to Data by Year
General Health Status & Life Satisfaction	Self-rated Health	A1	Percentage of women who report good, very good or excellent health	BRFSS	2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004
Social Determinants of Health	Education	B1	Percentage of women with a high school education/GED or greater	BRFSS	2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004
Social Determinants of Health	Poverty	B2	Percentage of women who live at or below 200% of the Federal Poverty Threshold	ASEC	2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004
Health Care	Access to and Utilization of Health Care	C1	Percentage of women who currently have some type of health care coverage	BRFSS	2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004
		C2	Percentage of women having a live birth who had health care coverage during the month prior to pregnancy	PRAMS	2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004
		C3	Percentage of women who had a routine checkup in the past year	BRFSS	2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005
		C4	Percentage of women having a live birth who had a postpartum checkup	PRAMS^a	Not Available in NC
		C5	Percentage of women having a live birth who had their teeth cleaned during the 12 months prior to pregnancy	PRAMS	2010 2009
		C6	Percentage of women who had a pap test within the past three years	BRFSS ^b,c	2010 2008 2006 2004
		C7	Percentage of women having a live birth who received preconception counseling about healthy lifestyle behaviors and prevention strategies from a health care provider prior to pregnancy	PRAMS^a	Not Available in NC
Reproductive Health & Family Planning	Previous Preterm Birth	D1	Percentage of women having a live birth who had a previous preterm birth	Vital Statistics Birth Certificate Data	Not available in 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004
	Previous Fetal Death, Miscarriage, or Stillbirth	D2	Percentage of women having a live birth who had their previous live birth more than three weeks before the due date	PRAMS	2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004
	Previous Fetal Death, Miscarriage, or Stillbirth	D3	Percentage of women who experienced a miscarriage, fetal death or stillbirth in the 12 months prior to getting pregnant with their most recent live born infant	PRAMS^a	Not Available in NC
	Inter-pregnancy Interval/Birth Spacing	D4	Percentage of women having a live birth who had less than 18 months between their previous live birth and the start of the most recent pregnancy	Vital Statistics Birth Certificate Data	2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004
	Pregnancy Intention/Wantedness	D5	Percentage of women having a live birth who reported having an unintended or unwanted pregnancy Unintended pregnancy: percentage of women who said that just before their most recent pregnancy, they wanted to be pregnant later or didn’t want to be pregnant then or at anytime in the future Unwanted pregnancy: percentage of women who said that just before their most recent pregnancy they didn’t want to be pregnant then or at anytime in the future	PRAMS	2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004
	Contraception (Access, Availability, and Use)	D6	Percentage of women having a live birth who were not trying to get pregnant at the time of conception and neither they nor their husbands or partners were doing anything to keep from getting pregnant	PRAMS	2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004
	Contraception (Access, Availability, and Use)	D7	Percentage of women having a live birth who reported that they or their husbands or partners were currently doing something to keep from getting pregnant	PRAMS	2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004
	Use of Assisted Reproductive Technology	D8	Percentage of women having a live birth who used fertility drugs or received any medical procedures from a doctor, nurse, or other health care worker to help them get pregnant	PRAMS^a	Not Available in NC
Tobacco, Alcohol & Substance Use	Smoking	E1	Percentage of women who currently smoke everyday or some days	BRFSS	2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004
	Smoking	E2	Percentage of women having a live birth who smoked cigarettes during the three months prior to pregnancy	PRAMS	2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004
	Alcohol Consumption	E3	Percentage of women who participated in heavy drinking on at least one occasion within the past month	BRFSS	2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004
		E4	Percentage of women who participated in binge drinking on at least one occasion in the past month	BRFSS	2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004
		E5	Percentage of women having a live birth who drank any amount of alcohol during the three months prior to pregnancy	PRAMS	2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004
		E6	Percentage of women years having a live birth who participated in binge drinking during the three months prior to pregnancy	PRAMS	2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004
	Secondhand Smoke Exposure	E7	Percentage of women having a live birth who reported that smoking is currently allowed in their home	PRAMS	2010 2009
Nutrition & Physical Activity	Fruit & Vegetable Consumption	F1	Percentage of women who consume fruits and vegetables at least five times per day	BRFSS^d	2009 2007 2005
	Obesity and Overweight	F2	Percentage of women who are overweight or obese based on body mass index (BMI) Overweight: percentage of women with a BMI ≥ 25 kg/m2 but < 30 kg/m2 Obesity: percentage of women with a BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2	BRFSS	2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004
	Obesity and Overweight	F3	Percentage of women having a live birth who were overweight or obese based on BMI at the time they became pregnant Overweight: percentage of women with a pre-pregnancy BMI ≥ 25 kg/m2 but < 30 kg/m2 Obesity: percentage of women with a pre-pregnancy BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2	PRAMS	2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004
	Folic Acid Supplementation	F4	Percentage of women having a live birth who took a multivitamin, prenatal vitamin, or a folic acid supplement everyday of the month prior to pregnancy	PRAMS	2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004
	Exercise/Physical Activity	F5	Percentage of women who participate in enough moderate and/or vigorous physical activity in a usual week to meet the recommended levels of physical activity	BRFSS^d	2009 2007 2005
Mental Health	General Mental Distress	G1	Percentage of women who report that their mental health was not good for at least 14 out of the past 30 days	BRFSS	2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004
	Anxiety and Depression	G2	Percentage of women having a live birth who visited a health care provider to be checked or treated for anxiety or depression during the 12 months prior to pregnancy	PRAMS	2010 2009
	Postpartum Depression	G3	Percentage of women having a live birth who experienced depressive symptoms after pregnancy	PRAMS	2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004
Emotional & Social Support	Domestic Abuse (Physical and Mental)	H1	Percentage of women having a live birth who were physically abused by their partner during the 12 months prior to pregnancy	PRAMS	2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004
	Domestic Abuse (Physical and Mental)	H2	Percentage of women having a live birth who were mentally abused by their partner during the 12 months prior to pregnancy	PRAMS^a	Not Available in NC
	Adequacy of Support	H3	Percentage of women who always or usually get the social and emotional support they need	BRFSS	2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005
	Adequacy of Support	H4	Percentage of women having a live birth who reported that they had adequate social and emotional support available to them after delivering their baby	PRAMS^a	2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004
Chronic Conditions	Diabetes	I1	Percentage of women who have ever been told by a health care provider that they had diabetes including gestational diabetes	BRFSS	2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004
	Diabetes	I2	Percentage of women having a live birth who before their most recent pregnancy had ever been told be a health care provider that they had Type I or Type II diabetes	PRAMS	2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004
	Hypertension	I3	Percentage of women who have ever been told by a health care provider that they had hypertension including hypertension during pregnancy	BRFSS^d	2009 2007 2005
	Hypertension	I4	Percentage of women having a live birth who reported that they had hypertension during the 3 months before their most recent pregnancy	PRAMS^a	Not Available in NC
	Asthma	I5	Percentage of women who currently have asthma	BRFSS	2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004
Infections	HIV	J1	Percentage of women having a live birth who were tested for HIV within a year prior to their most recent pregnancy	PRAMS^a	Not Available in NC
	Sexually Transmitted Infections	J2	Rates of Chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis (cases per 100,000 women aged 18-44 years)	NSTD	2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003
	Immunizations	J3	Percentage of women who received an influenza vaccination within the past year	BRFSS	2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004

^a Indicator measure is a PRAMS Standard Item, which is not available in all PRAMS states.
^b Indicator measure is a BRFSS Rotating Core Item, which is available in all states only in even years.
^c Indicator measure is also available as an Optional Module, which can be added in odd years.
^d Indicator measure is a BRFSS Rotating Core Item, which is available in all states only in odd years.

Fact Sheet

The State of Preconception Health in North Carolina (PDF)

Page last updated May 18, 2012