Zika Knowledge Among Pregnant Woman in an Inner-City Urban Hospital [10M

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Zika virus has been shown to pass vertically during pregnancy. In the US, more than 800 pregnant women have tested positive and 26 infants have birth defects. Many organizations educate about Zika however, the effectiveness is not well known. A national poll of 1,275 individuals revealed that 23% were unaware of the birth defects; 20% believe there is a vaccine; 42% do not realize Zika virus can be sexually transmitted; and 25% think individuals with Zika will always have symptoms. In this study, pregnant women were surveyed to assess their Zika knowledge in an urban inner city setting. METHODS: A 14 question survey was administered to pregnant patients at SUNY Downstate Medical Center. 4 questions were demographic and 10 assessed knowledge regarding Zika. RESULTS: 53 pregnant women were surveyed. 87% were unaware that Zika does not exhibit symptoms in most; 55% did not know there is no specific treatment; 28% were unaware of where Zika is found; and 28% were not aware Zika can be sexually transmitted. Kruskal-Wallis tests for one-way analysis of variance demonstrated greater knowledge regarding Zika in patients with more than one child compared to those with just one child (Mean: 7.90 vs 6.36, p=0.007). CONCLUSION: These results show that although the government has tried to educate about Zika, there are still areas of deficiency. Differences in Zika knowledge based on demographics was not noted except between women with one child and women with more than one child which should be investigated further.