Abstract
INTRODUCTION:On July 2016, the first case of United States based Zika virus infection was identified in Miami, FL. Till date, there are no studies assessing knowledge and behaviors of Zika virus in Miami, FL. In this study, we aimed to assess knowledge, attitudes, and practices of Zika virus amongst pregnant women residing in Miami, FL.
METHODS:A cross-sectional design was utilized for this study and a survey was distributed to the antenatal clinics at University of Miami to pregnant women. Completed surveys were entered onto Redcap and analyzed using SAS studio (SAS Institute Inc. Cary, NC, USA). Pearsonʼs chi-square or Fisherʼs exact test were used to compare categorical variables and multivariate logistic regression was utilized to adjust for confounding variables.
RESULTS:A total of 224 women were surveyed from January 2017-May 2017. Seventy-five percent of women answered questions about Zika virus transmission, prevention, and vulnerable population. On prevention, 61.4% of wore long-sleeved clothing, 87.8% used mosquito repellant, and 54.9% used condoms during intercourse. On multivariate regression, employment was associated with answering six knowledge questions correctly. First trimester was associated with wearing long-sleeved clothing [OR:2.538(1.260-5.114), p=0.0091] and perception of changed behavior due to Zika virus [2.458(1.128-5.356), p=0.0236].
CONCLUSION:Knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding Zika virus amongst pregnant women residing in Miami are adequate. The role of employment and workplace environment in promoting health education on Zika virus should be further evaluated.
