Rubella in the Collaborative Perinatal Research Study

Abstract

A LONGITUDINAL study of pregnant women at 11 university hospitals throughout the United States provided the unique opportunity to analyze the epidemiology of rubella and to determine the effects on the children born to these women. A total of 6,161 gravida women were under observation during the epidemic which occurred in the United States during the first six months of 1964. Extensive clinical data were obtained for all pregnant patients and their children. Special protocols were instituted to provide detailed information on rubella. Serial serum specimens were taken throughout the pregnancies, and these were subsequently tested for antibody to rubella. Information on the epidemiology of rubella in the pregnant women who were observed in January through June 1964, and additional women studied in 1966 and January 1969 is presented in this report. Data from longitudinal surveillance of the children of the 1964 pregnancies for a period of three years are