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. 2023 Jul 4;117(7):496-504.
doi: 10.1093/trstmh/trad005.

Zika virus knowledge, attitudes and prevention behaviors among pregnant women in the ZEN cohort study, Colombia, 2017-2018

Veronica K Burkel  1   2 , Suzanne M Newton  1 , Jacqueline Acosta  3 , Diana Valencia  1 , Monica Benavides  3 , Van T Tong  1 , Marcela Daza  3 , Christina Sancken  1 , Maritza Gonzalez  4 , Kara Polen  1 , Helena Rodriguez  4 , Milena Borbón  3 , Carol Y Rao  1 , Suzanne M Gilboa  1 , Margaret A Honein  1 , Marta L Ospina  4 , Candice Y Johnson  1   5
Affiliations

Zika virus knowledge, attitudes and prevention behaviors among pregnant women in the ZEN cohort study, Colombia, 2017-2018

Veronica K Burkel et al. Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg. .

Abstract

Background: Zika virus (ZIKV) infection during pregnancy can cause severe birth defects in the fetus and is associated with neurodevelopmental abnormalities in childhood. Our objective was to describe ZIKV knowledge and attitudes among pregnant women in Colombia while ZIKV was circulating and whether they predicted the adoption of behaviors to prevent ZIKV mosquito-borne and sexual transmission.

Methods: We used self-reported data from Zika en Embarazadas y Niños (ZEN), a cohort study of women in early pregnancy across three regions of Colombia during 2017-2018. We used Poisson regression to estimate associations between knowledge, attitudes and previous experience with mosquito-borne infection and preventative behaviors.

Results: Among 1519 women, knowledge of mosquito-borne transmission was high (1480; 97.8%) and 1275 (85.5%) participants were worried about ZIKV infection during pregnancy. The most common preventive behavior was wearing long pants (1355; 89.4%). Regular mosquito repellent use was uncommon (257; 17.0%). While ZIKV knowledge and attitudes were not associated with the adoption of ZIKV prevention behaviors, previous mosquito-borne infection was associated with increased condom use (prevalence ratio 1.4, 95% CI 1.1 to 1.7).

Conclusions: Participants were well informed about ZIKV transmission and its health consequences. However, whether this knowledge resulted in behavior change is less certain.

Keywords: Colombia; Zika virus; health knowledge attitudes and practice; pregnancy; prevention.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: None declared.

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