Seroepidemiology of Cytomegalovirus in Pregnant Women in Sari, Iran 2018- 2020

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection is a serious problem during pregnancy as it threatens the mothers’ health and also leads to fetal abnormalities and/or deaths. There is paucity of information about the incidence of CMV in pregnant mothers in Sari, Iran. Therefore, this study was carried out to investigate the frequency of CMV during pregnancy and the relationship between that and related epidemic parameters in Sari.

A descriptive-observational study was conducted in pregnant women participating in Sari Birth Cohort (SBC) Center during 2018-2020. A total of 1092 samples were investigated for serological markers of CMV using ELISA. Data analysis was performed applying Chi-square and logistic regression.

Prevalence of positive CMV-IgG and IgM in samples studied were 91.8% and 0.2%, respectively. Educational level (P= 0.03) and pregnancy stage (P= 0.02) were found to be significantly different between mothers with positive IgG and negative IgG.

In current study, pregnant women in third trimester whose educational level was bachelor’s degree or less had CMV infection. Despite prenatal screening, cytomegalovirus can be reactivated during pregnancy, therefore, follow-up of the fetus for fetopathy is recommended.