Influenza and Text Messaging in Pregnancy

History and the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic suggest that both seasonal and pandemic influenza infections impart disproportionate morbidity and mortality among gravidas. The influenza vaccine represents a viable, preventive health intervention to mitigate disease burden for gravidas and their neonates. Despite the safety and efficacy of influenza vaccines, suboptimal maternal vaccination rates (13-24%) persist nationwide. Barriers to influenza vaccination during pregnancy include patient concerns about vaccine safety and unappreciated risk of influenza infection. Cellular phone text messaging has emerged as an innovative technology with advantages of ubiquity, rapid, confidential information transmission, and low cost. Text messaging may represent an effective way to educate pregnant women about their particular vulnerability to influenza infection and enhance influenza vaccine uptake. We propose a randomized, controlled clinical trial to assess whether text messaging to an outpatient obstetric population can improve maternal influenza vaccine uptake.

Inclusion criteria

• Pregnant women less than 28 weeks estimated gestation age
• Between 14-50 years of age
• Willing to provide informed consent and undergo necessary study procedures

Exclusion criteria

• Unwillingness or inability to receive text messages
• Receipt of the current season's influenza vaccine or plan to receive the influenza vaccine on the day of the enrollment visit
• Reported history of adverse reaction precluding receipt of the vaccine
• Unwillingness or inability to provide informed consent and comply with study criteria.