Awareness of congenital cytomegalovirus and acceptance of maternal and newborn screening

Katie J Tastad; Mark R Schleiss; Sara M Lammert; Nicole E Basta

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0221725

Awareness of congenital cytomegalovirus and acceptance of maternal and newborn screening

PLoS One. 2019 Aug 26;14(8):e0221725. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0221725. eCollection 2019.

Authors

Katie J Tastad¹, Mark R Schleiss², Sara M Lammert¹, Nicole E Basta¹

Affiliations

¹ Division of Epidemiology and Community Health, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, United States of America.
² Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases and Immunology, School of Medicine, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, United States of America.

Abstract

Objectives: To assess awareness of cytomegalovirus (CMV); attitudes towards screening; and frequency of behaviors that could increase the risk of prenatal infection.

Methods: We conducted a survey among 726 women at the 2017 Minnesota State Fair. Minnesota residents aged 18-44 were eligible if they had never been pregnant or had been pregnant within the past 10 years. We compared responses between never-pregnant and recently-pregnant women.

Results: Only 20% of study participants had previously heard of CMV. Remarkably, recently-pregnant women were no more likely to be aware of CMV than never-pregnant women after adjusting for potential confounders. After receiving information about CMV, nearly all participants indicated they believed prenatal (96%) or newborn (96%) screening should be offered.

Conclusions: Although baseline awareness of CMV was low (even among recently-pregnant women), after learning more about the risks, women supported screening. Several states have passed or proposed legislation promoting CMV education and/or screening programs. We identified important gaps in knowledge about CMV among women who may benefit from education about how to reduce their risk of exposure and who may need to decide whether they would be willing to screen for CMV in the future.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adult
Cytomegalovirus Infections / congenital*
Cytomegalovirus Infections / diagnosis*
Female
Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice*
Humans
Infant, Newborn
Neonatal Screening*
Patient Acceptance of Health Care*
Pregnancy
Prenatal Diagnosis*
Surveys and Questionnaires

Grants and funding

This work was supported by a Community Health Impact in Pediatrics grant (awarded to MS) funded by the Minnesota Vikings Children’s Fund Award, “If You Don’t Pass, Screen” and the University of Minnesota Medical School Department of Pediatrics. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.