Seroprevalence of hepatitis B infection during pregnancy and risk of perinatal transmission

Abstract

Seroprevalence of HBsAg in antenatal women was found to be 0.9%. HBe-antigen and HBV DNA positivity was associated with a higher chance of vertical transmission.

Factors Associated with Hepatitis B Surface Antigen Seropositivity among Pregnant Women in Kigali, Rwanda: A Cross Sectional Study

“…Contrary to the other studies [5,12,14,26,33,37,[47][48][49], older age, gravida two or more, increasing parity, a history of blood transfusion, history of tattooing, previous surgical procures, higher number of sexual partners, polygamy and history of previous STIs did not show any statistically significant correlations with HBsAg positivity in this study.…”

“…Contrary, it was higher than the study conducted in India (0.9%) [26] and Tripoli, Libya (1.5%) [27]. However, other several studies have been reported higher prevalence of HBV among pregnant women, for example 9.3% in Kenya [28] [35].…”

Tackling the Hepatitis B Disease Burden in India

“…[49][50][51][52] A large study involving 8575 pregnant women from Northern India, documented HBsAg carrier rate in antenatal mothers to be 3.7%, HBeAg carrier rate 7.8% and vertical transmission was observed in 18.6%. 53 However, a recent study by Dwivedi et al 54 has shown a lower prevalence rate of 0.9%. Moreover, unlike most studies showing lower levels of HBeAg positivity in HBV infected pregnant women, 8,53 Dwivedi et al 54 reported a high replicative rate, with 56.8% of the patients being HBeAg positive.…”

“…53 However, a recent study by Dwivedi et al 54 has shown a lower prevalence rate of 0.9%. Moreover, unlike most studies showing lower levels of HBeAg positivity in HBV infected pregnant women, 8,53 Dwivedi et al 54 reported a high replicative rate, with 56.8% of the patients being HBeAg positive.…”

“…53 However the knowledge of dynamics of HBV transmission is imprecise and the role of perinatal transmission and horizontal transmission of this disease among children is based on inadequate evidence. The contribution by vertical transmission may be underestimated if we look at the high prevalence of replicative markers in HBsAg-positive pregnant women as reported by Dwivedi et al 54,96 Sexual Transmission HBV can be transmitted through sexual intercourse. Sexual transmission adds less to the chronicity burden but can result in acute hepatitis B. Occult HBV infection has been observed in 12.2% of HIV patients infected through sexual transmission.…”