One "misunderstood" health issue: demonstrating and communicating the safety of influenza a vaccination in pregnancy: a systematic review and meta-analysis

• Published in: BMC public health 2021-04, Vol.21 (1), p.703-703, Article 703
• Main Authors: Lu, Qing Chun, Zhang, Tie Yun, Bundhun, Pravesh Kumar, Chen, Cheng
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Apgar score; Bias; Birth defects; Birth weight; Childbirth & labor; Communication; Communication scholars; Confidence intervals; Congenital defects; Demographic aspects; Disease control; Distribution; Fetal outcomes; Fetuses; Gestational age; Health aspects; Health communication; Immunization; Infants; Influenza; Influenza A; Influenza vaccine; Influenza vaccines; Literature reviews; Low birth weight; Meta-analysis; Neonates; Online data bases; Patient outcomes; Pregnancy; Pregnant women; Premature birth; Prevention; Public health; Risk analysis; Risk communication; Safety; Small for gestational age; Systematic review; Vaccines; Weight; Womens health
• ISSN: 1471-2458; 1471-2458
• DOI: 10.1186/s12889-021-10740-w

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) makes certain recommendations including the annual influenza vaccination of pregnant and pre-pregnant women during influenza (flu) season with an inactivated influenza vaccine as soon as it becomes available. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices in association with ACOG state that the vaccine is safe to be given any trimester during pregnancy. However, due to a lack of communication, the public is unaware of the effects of influenza A vaccination in pregnancy. Since this is a vital public health concern, we aimed to communicate with evidence, the safety of influenza A vaccination in pregnancy in order to improve the rate of influenza A vaccines in pregnant women. This health communication issue was based on the impact of influenza vaccine on fetal outcomes. Therefore, a search was carried out through medical-based online databases including: Cochrane Central, EMBASE, Web of Science, MEDLINE, http://www.ClinicalTrials.gov , and Google scholar for relevant English-based publications. Adverse fetal outcomes were considered as the endpoints of this analysis. The most specific RevMan 5.3 (latest version) software was used to carry out this analysis. Risk ratios (RR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) were involved in data and results representation and interpretation. A total number of 679, 992 pregnant women participated in this analysis. Based on this current analysis, premature/preterm birth (