Needs Assessment for Rubella Vaccination Recommendation Based on Antibody Levels to Rubella Virus of Pregnant Women

Abstract

We investigated rubella antibody titer during pregnancy, delivery history, and labor age in 728 pregnant women between January 2013 and December 2013 in Kobe City Medical Center General Hospital. Among 728 pregnant women, women with high antibody titer numbered 534, and women with low antibody titer numbered 194. In total, the rubella antibody prevalence rate in this study was 73.4% and the percentage of pregnant women with low antibody titer was 26.6%. The rubella antibody prevalence rate of 387 primiparous and 341 multiparous women was 72.4% (280) and 74.5% (254), respectively. Their delivery histories were not related to the rubella antibody prevalence rate (P = 0.52), but pregnant women with high antibody titer were significantly older than pregnant women with low antibody titer (P = 0.0002). We started to recommend receiving the post-partum rubella vaccine to 157 pregnant women with low antibody titer from February 2013. One hundred and thirty-six (86.6%) pregnant women with low antibody titer received the postpartum rubella vaccine according to our recommendation. One of the effective measures to prevent future occurrences of Congenital Rubella Syndrome is to aggressively recommend rubella vaccination so that pregnant women with low antibody titer do not miss an opportunity to receive the post-partum vaccination.