Changing patterns of cytomegalovirus seroprevalence among pregnant women in Norway between 1995 and 2009 examined in the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study and two cohorts from Sør-Trøndelag County: a cross-sectional study

• Published in: BMJ Open
• Main Authors: Odland, Maria Lisa, Strand, Kristin Melheim, Nordbø, Svein Arne, Forsmo, Siri, Ausgtulen, Rigmor, Iversen, Ann-Charlotte
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: BMJ Publishing Group 2015
• Subjects: Norway; North Norway
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/11250/2365152; https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2013-003066

Objectives: To examine cytomegalovirus (CMV) seroprevalence and associated risk factors for CMV seropositivity in pregnant Norwegian women. Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: The Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study (MoBa) in addition to two random samples of pregnant women from Sør-Trøndelag County in Norway. Participants: Study group 1 were 1000 pregnant women, randomly selected among 46 127 pregnancies in the MoBa (1999–2006) at 17/18 week of gestation. Non-ethnic Norwegian women were excluded. Study groups 2 (n=1013 from 1995) and 3 (n=979 from 2009) were pregnant women at 12 weeks of gestation from Sør-Trøndelag County. Outcome measures: CMV seropositivity in blood samples from pregnant Norwegian women. Results: CMV-IgG antibodies were detected in 59.9% and CMV-IgM antibodies in 1.3% of pregnant Norwegian women in study group 1. Women from North Norway demonstrated a higher CMV-IgG seroprevalence (72.1%) than women from South Norway (58.5%) (OR 1.83, 95% CI 1.17 to 2.88). The CMV-IgG seroprevalence was higher among women with low education (70.5%) compared to women with higher education (OR 2.20, 95% CI 1.24 to 3.90). Between 1995 and 2009 the CMV-IgG seroprevalence increased from 63.1% to 71.4% in pregnant women from Sør-Trøndelag County (study groups 2 and 3; p<0.001). The highest CMV-IgG seroprevalence (79.0%) was observed among the youngest pregnant women (<25 years) from Sør-Trøndelag County in 2009 (study group 3). Conclusions: The CMV-IgG seroprevalence of pregnant Norwegian women varies with geographic location and educational level. Additionally, the CMV-IgG seroprevalence appears to have increased over the last years, particularly among young pregnant women. This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 3.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/