Sero-prevalence of rubella among pregnant women in Sub-Saharan Africa: a meta-analysis

Abstract

Background: Rubella continues to be a leading cause of vaccine-preventable congenital birth defects and permanent organ damage, especially in developing countries. For women who are infected with the rubella virus (RV) before conception or during the first trimester of pregnancy, the unborn child has up to a 90% probability of developing congenital rubella syndrome. There are limited data on the seroprevalence of the rubella virus among pregnant women in Sub-Saharan Africa. Therefore, the aim of this study was done to determine the pooled seroprevalence of rubella among pregnant women in Sub-Saharan Africa. Methods: The PRISMA guidelines protocol was followed to write the systematic review and meta-analysis. Published studies were searched in Medline, PubMed, Google scholar, advance google and Cochrane Library. The search terms on the databases are: "rubella"OR "rubeo*", "rubella"AND"seroepidemiology", "seroprevalen *" OR "prevalen*", "seroprevalen *" OR "seroimmun*", "rubella antibod*"AND "pregnan*", "seroprevalen *" AND "sub-Saharan Africa".The heterogeneity of studies was weighed using Cochran's Q test and I 2 test statistics. Publication bias was assessed by using Egger's and Begg's test. Results: Twenty-eight studies were included in this meta-analysis. The pooled seroprevalence of anti-RV IgG among pregnant women in Sub-Saharan African was 89.0% (95%CI: 84.6-92.3), and the pooled prevalence of anti-RV IgM among pregnant women in Sub-Saharan Africa was 5.1% (95%CI: 2.6-9.9). Conclusion: This meta-analysis showed that seronegativity and acute infection with RV among pregnant women in sub-Saharan Africa is high compared to other studies and the WHO threshold among women of child-bearing age. This finding calls for primary health care providers to make the community aware of this rubella-susceptible group and its healthcare burden, with the desired outcome that sub-Saharan Africa countries would introduce an implementation strategy for rubella vaccination of pregnant women and women of child-bearing age.

Seroprevalence of rubella virus among pregnant women: A 4‐year registered‐based study from family medicine and obstetric clinics in Saudi Arabia

“…The seroprevalence of rubella IgM among pregnant females in this study was 1.2%. This is lower than findings from other countries like Ethiopia (9.5%), Nigeria (9.2%), Sub‐Saharan Africa (5.1%) and Turkey (2%) 1,11 . These differences between the seroprevalence of rubella IgM in this study and others could be explained by the variations in the rubella virus endemicity and the vaccination programs between countries 1 .…”

“…and Turkey (2%). 1,11 These differences between the seroprevalence of rubella IgM in this study and others could be explained by the variations in the rubella virus endemicity and the vaccination programs between countries. 1 The lack of association between sociodemographic and antenatal characteristics with positive rubella IgM in this study has also been found in various previous studies.…”

Seroprevalence of Rubella Virus among Pregnant Women in the Red Sea Region of Sudan

“…In children, the percentages ranged from 99.2% to 63.6% [12]. In a metaanalysis of 28 studies in Sub-Saharan countries, the pooled seroprevalence of anti-rubella IgG among pregnant women was found to be about 89.0% (95% CI: 84.6-92.3%), and for rubella IgG and IgM, the pooled prevalence among pregnant women was 5.1% (95% CI: 2.6-9.9) [17].…”

Transmission of Rubella and Risk of Congenital Rubella Syndrome (Crs) in Pregnant Women during Prenatal Consultation at the Sino – Gabonese Friendship Hospital in Franceville

“…2014) and have conducted serological surveys to determine the proportion of women of childbearing age who are susceptible to rubella. (Kassa ZY et al, 2020). Rubella is a public health problem that results in the birth of approximately 110,000 children with congenital rubella syndrome (CRS) (Duszak, RS et al, 2009).…”