http://www.torontosun.com/2012/05/22/fl ... rths-studyVaccines doled out during 2009's swine flu pandemic had a surprisingly positive impact on pregnant women, a new study shows.
Researchers at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute (OHRI) and the University of Ottawa looked at the 55,570 births in Ontario during the H1N1 pandemic of 2009.
"What surprised me and the research team was the strength of the protective benefits we found," said co-author Dr. Ann Sprague of the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario's research institute.
Compared to women who weren't immunized, those who got the shot were 34% less likely to have a stillbirth, 28% less likely to deliver before 32 weeks and 19% less likely to give birth to an underweight baby. 
"The findings of this study are very helpful," said co-author Dr. Mark Walker, a senior scientist at OHRI and a high-risk obstetrician at the Ottawa Hospital.
"Pregnant women are generally very, very careful about what they put into their bodies. For health-care providers like me, such a large-scale study that shows no adverse perinatal outcomes resulting from the H1N1 flu vaccine will be extremely helpful when discussing maternal vaccination."
The researchers say the sample size for the study was "robust" because 42% of the women who had babies in Ontario during the pandemic were vaccinated.
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