Laboratory testing for cytomegalovirus among pregnant women in the United States: a retrospective study using administrative claims data

BACKGROUND: Routine cytomegalovirus (CMV) screening during pregnancy is not recommended in the United States and the extent to which it is performed is unknown. Using a medical claims database, we computed rates of CMV-specific testing among pregnant women. METHODS: We used medical claims from the 2009 Truven Health MarketScan® Commercial databases. We computed CMV-specific testing rates using CPT codes. RESULTS: We identified 77,773 pregnant women, of whom 1,668 (2%) had a claim for CMV-specific testing. CMV-specific testing was significantly associated with older age, Northeast or urban residence, and a diagnostic code for mononucleosis. We identified 44 women with a diagnostic code for mononucleosis, of whom 14% had CMV-specific testing. CONCLUSIONS: Few pregnant women had CMV-specific testing, suggesting that screening for CMV infection during pregnancy is not commonly performed. In the absence of national surveillance for CMV infections during pregnancy, healthcare claims are a potential source for monitoring practices of CMV-specific testing.