The Seroprevalence of Dengue Virus Infection and Its Association With Iron (Fe) Level in Pregnant Women in Guangzhou, China

Jiong Wang; Jiufeng Sun; Limei Sun; Yufeng Ye; Hanwei Chen; Jianpeng Xiao; Guanhao He; Jianxiong Hu; Guimin Chen; He Zhou; Xiaomei Dong; Wenjun Ma; Bo Zhang; Tao Liu

doi:10.3389/fmed.2021.759728

The Seroprevalence of Dengue Virus Infection and Its Association With Iron (Fe) Level in Pregnant Women in Guangzhou, China

Front Med (Lausanne). 2021 Dec 10:8:759728. doi: 10.3389/fmed.2021.759728. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Jiong Wang^{1

2}, Jiufeng Sun², Limei Sun³, Yufeng Ye⁴, Hanwei Chen⁴, Jianpeng Xiao², Guanhao He², Jianxiong Hu², Guimin Chen², He Zhou², Xiaomei Dong⁵, Wenjun Ma⁵, Bo Zhang⁶, Tao Liu^{5

1}

Affiliations

¹ School of Public Health, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China.
² Guangdong Provincial Institute of Public Health, Guangdong Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Guangzhou, China.
³ Guangdong Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Guangzhou, China.
⁴ Guangzhou Panyu Central Hospital, Guangzhou, China.
⁵ Department of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, School of Medicine, Jinan University, Guangzhou, China.
⁶ Food Safety and Health Research Center, School of Public Health, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China.

Abstract

Dengue fever is regarded as the most prevalent mosquito-borne viral disease in humans. However, information of dengue virus (DENV) infection in pregnant women and the influence factors remain unclear. In this study, we extracted information of 2,076 pregnant women from the Prenatal Environment and Offspring Health (PEOH) birth cohort conducted since 2016 in Guangzhou, China. Peripheral blood and clean midstream urine samples of participants were collected during their hospitalization for childbirth. Indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to detect immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies of DENV in serum samples, and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) was applied to determine the Fe concentrations in the urine samples, which were then adjusted for by urine creatinine and transformed by natural logarithm (ln-Fe). The seroprevalence of DENV IgG antibody in all included participants was 2.22% (46/2,076). We observed higher seroprevalence of IgG antibody in women aged ≥35 years (2.9%), education ≤ 12 years (2.5%), yearly income per capita <100,000 yuan (2.4%), no use of air-conditioner (2.4%), no use of mosquito coils (2.3%), and no exercise during pregnancy (4.1%). A U-shaped relationship was found between ln-Fe concentration and the risk of positive IgG antibody. Compared with women with ln-Fe concentration of 2.0-2.9 μg/g creatinine, slightly higher risks of positive IgG antibody were found among women with ≤2.0 (RR = 4.16, 95% CI: 0.78, 19.91), 3.0-3.9 (RR = 1.93, 95% CI: 0.65, 7.08), 4.0-4.9 (RR = 2.19, 95% CI: 0.65, 8.51), and ≥5.0 μg/g creatinine of ln-Fe (RR = 2.42, 95% CI: 0.46, 11.33). Our findings suggested that the seroprevalence of dengue IgG antibody in pregnant women was comparable to the general population in Guangzhou, China. The risk of DENV infection may be associated with maternal demographic characteristics and behaviors. Both maternal low and high Fe concentrations may be positively associated with the risk of DENV infection.

Keywords: IgG antibodies; dengue; iron; pregnant women; trace elements.