Prevalence of Hepatitis C in Pregnant Women at Tertiary Care Hospital

Abstract

Background: Hepatitis caused by viruses is a serious worldwide health issue that affects 2 to 15 million individuals annually. HCV-infected mothers give birth to an approximately 40,000 children annually, resulting in up to 4000 additional perinatal infected offspring Methodology: This was cross sectional study carried out at Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Department, Women and Children Hospital, Charsadda for aperiod of six months from August 2021 to January 2022. Totally 300 pregnant women were included in our study. Blood samples were taken from all the participants and sent to hospital diagnostic laboratory for the diagnosis of hepatitis C virus through immune-chromatographic technique. All the data analysis was carried out by using IBM SPSS version 20. Results: The mean age in our study was 33.12 years with standard deviation of ± 4.11. In our study, hepatitis C virus prevalence was 8.66% (n=26) in pregnant women. In our study, 17 (18.18%) of the HCV positive subjects were observed in age group 18-25 years. While the HCV positive subjects observed in age group 26-35 years, 36-45 years were 6 (4%) and 2 (3.33%) respectively. Conclusion: Our study concludes that the prevalence of hepatitis C amongst pregnant women was 8.66%. Despite the fact that the incidence of hepatitis C was shown to be lower among pregnant females visiting tertiary care hospitals, regular anti-HCV antibody testing of all pregnant females is strongly recommended for prompt identification of illness in mothers and to prevent their transmission to newborns. Keywords: Prevalence; Hepatitis C; Pregnant Women