Improving pregnancy risk predictions for Arkansas patients
Official title: Expanding Translational Science in Arkansas
Funded at Univ of Arkansas for Med Scis · NIH-11393960 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project compares two pregnancy risk scores to see how well they spot complications for younger and older, publicly or privately insured, and rural or urban pregnant people in Arkansas.
Quick facts
| Grant type | NIH-funded research |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Univ of Arkansas for Med Scis NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Little Rock, United States) |
| Project start | July 1, 2024 |
| Project end | June 30, 2031 |
| Funding year | 2025 |
| Award (this year) | $214,200 |
| NIH project number | 3UM1TR004909-02S1 |
| Project ID | NIH-11393960 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Pregnant people receiving prenatal care in participating Arkansas clinics or hospitals that use the Epic electronic medical record are the records most likely to be included.
✕Less likely to help
People who receive care outside Arkansas, in health systems not using Epic, or with very rare pregnancy conditions may not see direct benefits from this project.
What this research studies
If you are pregnant and get care in Arkansas, researchers will use existing electronic health records to compare two types of pregnancy risk scores. They will look at the built-in Epic risk scores for diabetes-related hospital or emergency visits and a published obstetric prediction model. The team will measure how often the scores correctly or incorrectly flag risk (true and false positives) across younger versus older, public versus private insurance, and rural versus urban groups. No extra clinic visits are required — this is an analysis of past and current medical records to spot patterns and gaps.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this work could make pregnancy risk tools fairer and more accurate so clinicians can better prevent complications and reduce unnecessary alarms.
How similar studies have gone: Many pregnancy prediction tools exist but often perform unevenly across groups and lack external checks, so comparing subgroup performance is relatively new.
Where this research is happening
-
Univ of Arkansas for Med Scis
Little Rock, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: James, Laura P — Univ of Arkansas for Med Scis
- Study coordinator: James, Laura P
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About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.