EFFECT OF HEPATITIS C VIRUS ON DURATION OF PREGNANCY AND THE INCIDENCE OF CONGENITAL ANOMALIES OF THE FETUS

Abstract

Background; In spite of reports of raised rates of hypertensive problems, pre-mature births, and cholestasis, the influence of mother HCV infections on gestation complications and obstetrical outcomes hasn’t been extensively defined. Aim and objectives; The current work aimed to examine the influence of Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections during pregnancy on the duration of gestation as well as its possible effect on the incidence of congenital anomalies of the fetus. Subjects and methods; This work was a prospective observational case-control research had been done at Al-Hussein and Sayed Galal hospitals, Al-Azhar University during the period from December 2020 to June 2021. The study included 120 HCV infected and 120 HCV uninfected gravid females. Result; Congenital anomalies in Group (A) show that 7(5.8%) had congenital anomalies while in Group (B) 3(2.5%) had congenital anomalies. Nonsignificant changes have been found among studied groups. Significant changes have been found among studied groups as regard neonatal ICU admission where P=0.005. Conclusion; Gestations in females who are positive for anti-HCV have elevated rates of poor neonatal and obstetrical results, while correlations among neonatal and obstetrical results and HCV don’t essentially mirror a causal association, HCV positivity can be a substitute indicator for raised risk of poor gestation outcome and the HCV-positive gravid populations can need more clinical vigilance in this concern.