[Influenza vaccination in pregnant women. Coverage, practices and knowledge among obstetricians].
OBJECTIVE
Women who are pregnant during influenza season have an increased risk of infection and severe clinical disease. Several national and international organizations currently recommend vaccination for pregnant women. We intended to estimate the influenza vaccination rate in a population of postpartum women attended in a tertiary hospital in Barcelona. Moreover, we assessed the knowledge and practice of obstetricians about influenza vaccination during pregnancy.


METHODS
Two cross-sectional surveys were performed. Postpartum women who delivered from December 2007 to February 2008 were included. The sample of obstetricians was constituted by those who were working in hospital or primary care reference areas.


RESULTS
Influenza vaccination rate was 4.1%. Healthy women represented 80.5% of our population. The vaccination rate in the group with comorbidities was 3.3%. The providers who recommended the vaccine more frequently were the midwife in 28.9% and the nurse in 18.4%. Among the obstetricians, 20.9% responded that the influenza vaccine was recommended in the first trimester of pregnancy and 65.1% said that it was recommended in the second or third trimester. In relation to practice, only 7% offered the vaccine in the first trimester and 20,9% in the second or third trimester.


CONCLUSIONS
The influenza vaccination rate in pregnant women in our study is very low. Obstetricians showed a low level of knowledge about the current influenza vaccination recommendations, mainly in the case of first trimester of pregnancy and only few offered the vaccine in their practice.
Vilca Yengle
Luz María
LM
Servei de Medicina Preventiva i Epidemiologia, Hospital Universitari Vall d'Hebron, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, España. draluzmaria@gmail.com
Campins Martí
Magda
M
Cabero Roura
Lluís
L
Rodrigo Pendás
José Angel
JA
Martínez Gómez
Xavier
X
Hermosilla Pérez
Eduardo
E
Vaqué Rafart
Josep
J
D000328:Adult; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D007252:Influenza Vaccines; D007251:Influenza, Human / Q000517:prevention & control*; D009774:Obstetrics; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians'; D011247:Pregnancy; D011251:Pregnancy Complications, Infectious / Q000517:prevention & control*; D014611:Vaccination / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*
D007252:Influenza Vaccines