Cytomegalovirus infection prevention counseling during pregnancy in France: A national population-based study

Congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection can cause sensorineural impairment in children. Our primary objective was to estimate the proportion of women in France who received counseling from health care providers about preventing CMV transmission during pregnancy, and our secondary objective was to identify factors associated with receipt of such counseling.

Using data collected at childbirth in France from women included in the 2021 national perinatal survey (ENP), we first estimated the proportion of women who received counseling about preventing CMV infection during pregnancy, and then used univariate and multivariate analyses to compare maternal characteristics between women who reported such counseling and those who reported not being counseled or not remembering.

Among the 10,866 women interviewed, 1737 (16.0%) reported being counseled about CMV during pregnancy. Those born in North African or sub-Saharan countries were less likely to have been counseled (respectively, adjusted odds ratio 0.49, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.34-0.71 and 0.58, 95% CI 0.37-0.89) compared with women born in France, as were those with a low educational level (0.56, 95% CI, 0.48-0.66 for women with high school level, compared with women with ≥3-year post-secondary schooling). Compared with multiparous women, primiparous women were less likely to have been counseled (adjusted odds ratio 0.61, 95% CI 0.53-0.69).

Too few women receive counseling about CMV prevention during pregnancy. The women least informed were less educated and more socially vulnerable. They are probably also the women who have the least access to preventive health information.