seroepidemiology of rubella in women under 25 years old attending medical centers in ahvaz, iran in 2013

Background: rubella is a mild viral infection affecting women of reproductive age, and the fetus in early pregnancy, leading to miscarriage, stillbirth and congenital rubella syndrome.objectives: the present study aimed to assess serum level of anti-rubella antibodies in women younger than 25 years attending medical centers in ahvaz city.patients and methods: this descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted on 760 women younger than 25 years attending medical centers in ahvaz. a sample of 3 ml of venous blood was taken from each woman and elisa method was used to assess anti-rubella igg levels. antibody level more than 11 iu/ml was considered safe. data was analyzed by spss software using chi-square, anova and pearson correlation tests.results: of total samples, 683 women (88.9%) had immunity against rubella, 80 (10.4%) no immunity and 5 (0.7%) intermediate levels of antibody. immunity to rubella increased significantly with aging (p = 0.001) and a significant association was found between age and antibody titer (p = 0.001, r = 0.261).conclusions: more than 95% of 15 to 25 year-old women (main reproductive age in iran) are within acceptable immunity range. level of immunity to rubella in women of reproductive age in this region appears satisfactory.