[Determining factors of rubella in the 10 to 14 year-old population in Mexico].
The clinical and epidemiological importance of rubella relates to its teratogenic effects. When this disease occurs in children, adolescents and adults, it is usually benign. On the other hand, these age groups are source of disease transmission to pregnant women. The serology studies on rubella carried in Mexico prior to 1974, detected seropositivity levels from 87.1 to 97.7 percent in children younger than 14 years of age. In contrast, the National Seroepidemiology Survey (NSS) (1988) reported a much lower seropositivity (69.3%) in children of the same age group, and a rate of 80 percent in women of reproductive age. This situation is a particular problem for Mexico where a high proportion of the pregnancies occur during adolescence. While previous research has commented on descriptive measures of seroprevalences in women, this study, which is based on a logistic regression model, has the purpose of identifying the factors associated with the immunological status of girls between 10 and 14 years of age. The variable which showed the most evident relation to the antibody levels for rubella was years of schooling. The odds ratios (OR) for seropositivity among those who finished secondary schooling was 2.05 times (CI 1.28-2.56) that of the illiterate group. Other statistically significant variables were related to residence, urban vs rural (OR = 1.69; CI 1.48-2.12) and age, 10 vs 14 years (OR = 1.93; CL 1.69-2.42). Based on the multivariate model, it was observed that the girls with a greater risk of seropositivity were those who live in urban areas, attend secondary school, and are 14 years of age, with an OR = 4.05 (G = 6,756.4 and 5,580 gl; p less than .001). The study concludes with the following considerations: the immunological levels of girls from 10 to 14 years of age are low, and the results of the NSS suggest that Mexican public health authorities should evaluate the policy of vaccination against rubeola in the population potentially at risk, and that the factors associated with the disease, in descending order, are: years of schooling, age, and place of residence. It is also necessary to carry out analytic studies which will identify the risks and the etiology of congenital malformations which are likely to have been associated with the occurrence of rubeola virus during pregnancy.
Tapia-Conyer
R
R
Unidad de Investigación Clínica en Enfermedades Infecciosas y Parasitarias, Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social.
Sepúlveda
J
J
Salvatierra
B
B
Muńoz
O
O
Bustamante-Calvillo
E
E
Alvarez y Muńoz
T
T
Gutiérrez
G
G
D000293:Adolescent; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000097:blood*; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008800:Mexico / Q000453:epidemiology; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D011247:Pregnancy; D011251:Pregnancy Complications, Infectious / Q000517:prevention & control; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D012409:Rubella / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D012412:Rubella virus / Q000276:immunology*; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies
D000914:Antibodies, Viral
Factores determinantes de la rubéola en población de 10 a 14 años de edad en México.