Knowledge attitude and practice toward pertussis vaccination during pregnancy among pregnant and postpartum Italian women

Figures & data

Table 1. Sociodemographic characteristics and information regarding health and pregnancy.

	Pregnant women N = 164	Women in the postpartum N = 183	p value	Total
Mean age, yrs. (SD)	32.82 (4.65)	34.30 (4.44)		33.60 (4.59)
University Degree, N (%)	95 (57.93)	106 (57.92)	0.201	201 (57.93)
Employed, N (%)	124 (76.54)	136 (74.73)	0.695	260 (75.58)
Parity N (%)
0	73 (44.51)	0	<0.001	73 (21.04)
1	72 (43.90)	108 (59.02)		180 (51.87)
2	13 (7.93)	61 (33.33)		74 (21.33)
3	4 (2.44)	13 (7.10)		17 (4.90)
>3	2 (1.22)	1 (0,55)		3 (0.86)
Pregnancy complication (any)	40 (24.69)	46 (25.41)	0.877	86 (25.07)
Preconception visit	81.0 (50.00)	84 (45.90)	0.447	165 (47.83)
Vaccination before the pregnancy	15 (9.15)	19 (10.38)	0.699	34 (9.80)
Flu	7 (4.27)	9 (4.92)	0.773	16 (4.61)
Tdap	4 (2.44)	1 (0.55)	0.140	5 (1.44)
MMR	5 (3.05)	7 (3.83)	0.693	12 (3.46)
any other	1 (0.61)	2 (1.09)	0.627	3 (0.86)

Figure 1. Knowledge of pertussis vaccination during pregnancy. Panel 1A_ Percentage of the pregnant women and of the women in the postpartum who agreed, disagreed or undecided regarding the following statement of the web-based survey: “Pertussis vaccine during pregnancy is harmful for the development of the fetus." Panel 1B_ Percentage of the pregnant women and of the women in the postpartum who agreed, disagreed or undecided regarding the following statement of the web-based survey: “Pertussis vaccine during pregnancy can protect the newborn toward the infection."

Table 2. Reasons for not willing to receive the vaccination (for pregnant women) and not having received the vaccination (for women in the postpartum period).

	Pregnant women N = 126	Women in the postpartum N = 177	p-value	Total
Nobody recommended it	79 (62.70)	145 (81.92)	<0.001	224 (73.93)
I am scared of side effects for women and/or fetus’ development	51 (40.48)	21 (11.86)	<0.001	72 (23.76)
I have already had pertussis	34 (26.98)	36 (20.34)	0.176	70 (23.10)
In general, I am opposed to vaccination	22 (17.46)	15 (8.47)	0.019	37 (12.21)
I am not a risk category and I do not need it	8 (6.35)	11 (6.21)	0.962	19 (6.27)
Vaccine is not safe	8 (6.35)	6 (3.39)	0.226	14 (4.62)
Somebody else had a bad health experience after vaccination	6 (4.76)	6 (3.39)	0.546	12 (3.96)
My HCP advised me not to get vaccinated	3 (2.38)	4 (2.26)	0.945	7 (2.31)