Travel Clinic, Department of Ambulatory Care and Community Medicine, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland; Department of Public Health and Epidemiology, Swiss Tropical Institute, Basel, Switzerland; Ifakara Health Research and Development Center, PO Box 78373, Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania
D'Acremont, V., Travel Clinic, Department of Ambulatory Care and Community Medicine, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland; Tremblay, S., Travel Clinic, Department of Ambulatory Care and Community Medicine, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland; Genton, B., Travel Clinic, Department of Ambulatory Care and Community Medicine, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland, Department of Public Health and Epidemiology, Swiss Tropical Institute, Basel, Switzerland, Ifakara Health Research and Development Center, PO Box 78373, Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania
Background. Little is known on the impact of travel vaccinations during pregnancy on child outcomes, in particular on the long-term psychomotor development. The objectives of the study were (1) to estimate the rate of premature births, congenital abnormalities, and mental and physical development problems of children born from mothers who had been vaccinated during pregnancy and (2) to compare these rates with those of children whose mothers had not been vaccinated during pregnancy. Methods. Longitudinal study including (1) retrospectively pregnant women having attended our travel clinic before (vaccinated) and (2) prospectively mothers attending our clinic (nonvaccinated). We performed phone interviews with mothers vaccinated during pregnancy, up to 10 years before, and face-to-face interviews with nonvaccinated age-matched mothers, ie, women attending the travel clinic who had one child of about the same age as the one of the case to compare child development between both groups. Results. Fifty-three women vaccinated during pregnancy were interviewed as well as 53 nonvaccinated ones. Twenty-eight (53%) women received their vaccination during the first trimester. The most frequent vaccine administered was hepatitis A (55% of the cases), followed by di-Te (34%), IM poliomyelitis (23%), yellow fever (12%), A-C meningitis (8%), IM typhoid (4%), and oral poliomyelitis (4%). Children were followed for a range of 1 to 10 years. Rates of premature births were 5.7% in both groups; congenital abnormalities were 1.9% in the vaccinated cohort versus 5.7% in the nonvaccinated one; children took their first steps at a median age of 12 months in both cohorts; among schoolchildren, 5% of the vaccinated cohort versus 7.7% of the nonvaccinated attended a lower level or a specialized school. Conclusion. In this small sample size, there was no indication that usual travel vaccinations, including the yellow fever one, had deleterious effect on child outcome and development. © 2008 International Society of Travel Medicine.
diphtheria tetanus vaccine; hepatitis A vaccine; meningitis vaccine; poliomyelitis vaccine; typhoid vaccine; yellow fever vaccine; adult; article; child development; congenital malformation; consultation; controlled study; female; first trimester pregnancy; human; interview; longitudinal study; major clinical study; mental development; outcome assessment; physical development; pregnancy; prematurity; progeny; spontaneous abortion; telephone; travel; vaccination; Adult; Bacterial Vaccines; Child; Communicable Disease Control; Communicable Diseases; Congenital Abnormalities; Disease Transmission, Vertical; Female; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; Humans; Infant, Newborn; Infection; Longitudinal Studies; Maternal Behavior; Pregnancy; Pregnancy Complications, Infectious; Questionnaires; Retrospective Studies; Switzerland; Travel; Viral Vaccines; Virus Diseases