| Printable Copy |
 |
| Printable Copy |
|
Vaccinations with MMR within the first years of life may induce a shift of the incidence of measles, rubella and mumps to older age groups. Realization of these potential effects may be delayed in Germany as mandatory nation-wide case reporting for mumps and rubella were not been implemented until 2012. Therefore, sero-epidemiological surveys are highly important for the assessment of current gaps in seroprevalence of disease-specific antibodies and possible adjustment of national vaccination policies.
In this report, the authors describe MMR seroprevalence as a whole and calculate independent predictors for seronegativity for measles-, mumps- and rubella antibodies. The report for the first time provides seroprevalence results and detailed data on the vaccination status at individual level, before concluding that the proportion of MMR seronegative children was highest in the youngest age group and the proportion of an equivocal titre levels were highest among adolescents. More details factors associated with sero-negativity and recommendations are accessible at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3412821/
ABSTRACT
We have undertaken a seroprevalence study with more than 13,000 children, who had been included in the German KIGGS survey, a representative sample of children and adolescents 0–17 years of age. The IgG titres against measles, mumps and rubella were determined in 1 to 17 year olds While 88.8% of the children were MMR-vaccinated at least once, 76.8% of children aged 1 to 17 years showed prevalence of antibodies to MMR. The highest seronegativity was seen with respect to mumps. Gender differences were most pronounced with regard to rubella IgG titres: girls aged 14 to 17 years were best protected, although seronegativity in 6.8% of this vulnerable group still shows the need of improvement. Search for predictors of missing seroprevalence identified young age to be the most important predictor. Children living in the former West and children born outside of Germany had a higher risk of lacking protection against measles and rubella, while children with a migration background but born in Germany were less often seronegative to measles antibodies than their German contemporaries. An association of seronegativity and early vaccination was seen for measles but not for mumps and rubella. A high maternal educational level was associated with seronegativity to measles and rubella. In vaccinated children, seronegativity was highest for mumps and lowest for rubella. For mumps, high differences were observed for seronegativity after one-dose and two-dose vaccination, respectively. Seronegativity increases as time since last vaccination passes thus indicating significant waning effects for all three components of MMR.