Relevance of new recommendations on routine antenatal prevention of rhesus immunization: an appraisal based on a retrospective analysis of all cases observed in two French administrative areas of 3 million inhabitants.

Abstract Objective To assess the potential impact of new guidelines recommending routine antenatal prophylaxis at 28 weeks of pregnancy on incidence, consequences and cost of rhesus immunization. Study design All rhesus immunizations of 224,500 ongoing pregnancies in two neighbouring administrative areas in France between 2000 and 2006 were enrolled in this retrospective study. To determine the aetiology of immunization and to specify when sensitization occurred, we searched sensitizing events between the last negative and the first positive red-cell antibody test results. Perinatal consequences and costing were also analyzed. Results From 138 rhesus negative women bearing anti-D antibodies…