Comparing the Incidence of Preeclampsia Between Pregnant Women Receiving Tdap Vaccinations at Week 28 or at Week 36

Overview

Preeclampsia is a significant medical condition occurring in 3-8% of pregnancies and impacts deleteriously both maternal and fetal health. An important discovery has been made by Dr Craig D Scoville showing that early Tdap vaccinations in pregnancy can reduce the incidence of preeclampsia by more than 50%. A prospective clinical research trial is proposed and urgently needed to validate this finding and thereby make a significant contribution in reducing the incidence of this common and severe complication of pregnancy.

A double blinded randomized prospective clinical research study is proposed to validate the hypothesis that Tdap vaccinations at week 28 in pregnancy can reduce the incidence of preeclampsia by more than 50%. This project will recruit 1600 pregnant women with appropriate informed consent in the first trimester of pregnancy, obtain detailed obstetric and health history, and then randomize these subjects so 800 women receive Tdap at week 28, and 800 women receive Tdap at week 36, and all women will be followed during their pregnancies using standard of care with special attention to preeclampsia and fetal outcomes. Blood samples will be obtained at weeks 12, 20, and 36 in order to test the anti-tetanus toxoid antibody levels, anti-diptheria antibody levels, anti-pertussis antibody levels, and also maternal cytokines (IL-2, IL-4, IL-6, IL-10, TNFa, IL-17, and IFNg), and placental biomarkers (sFlt-1, sEng, and PIGF) for preeclampsia on those patients who develop preeclampsia and compare to those who didn't and thereby better understand the biomarkers of preeclampsia and devise a better formula for positive prediction for preeclampsia. To make this change in clinical practice and save lives, this study is asking for funding from NICHD PA-18-480.