Abstract
BackgroundViral hepatitis is a life-threatening liver disease that has become important public health issue in developing countries including Ethiopia. This study was undertaken to determine the seroprevalence of HBsAgs and anti-HCV antibodies and what socio-demographic factors are associated with sero-positivity of Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) and Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) infections among pregnant women attending maternity ward of Felege Hiwot Referral Hospital, northwest, Ethiopia.MethodsHospital based cross-sectional study was conducted from November 2013 to January 2014. Blood samples were randomly collected from 384 pregnant women. Data on socio-demographic characteristics, obstetric and potential risk factors were collected using semi-structured questionnaire. Chromatographic kits were used to detect the presence of HBsAg and antibodies against HCV in serum samples of the studied subjects. Chi-square test was used for assessing the association between socio-demographic variables and HBV and HCV status. Logistic regression analysis was done to determine the strength of association between risk factors and HBV or HCV infection. P-values less than 0.05 were considered as significant.ResultsSeroprevalnce of hepatitis B and C virus infections were found to be 4.4 and 0.26 %, respectively. None of the pregnant women were co-infected by these two viruses. Amongst the potential risk factors, previous history of dental procedure (AOR = 4.104, CI = 1.276–13.201, P = 0.018), house hold contact (AOR = 5.475, CI = 1.472–20.368, P = 0.011), multiple sexual exposure (AOR = 5.041, CI = 1.580–16.076, P = 0.006), and delivery at traditional birth attendants (AOR = 4.100, CI = 0.195-86.129, P = 0.024) were significantly associated with and important predictors of hepatitis B infection.ConclusionsThis study found an intermediate endemicity (4.4 %) of HBV infection in pregnant women whereas seroprevalence of anti-HCV antibody was very small, but this needs to be confirmed by other similar studies with larger sample size. Thus, scaling up of the screening of pregnant women for HBV and HCV infections and provision of health education about the risk factors, the mode of transmissions and prevention is recommended.
Highlights
Hepatitis is the inflammation of liver, most commonly caused by viral infections
Logistic regression analysis was done to determine the strength of association between risk factors and Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) or Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) infection
hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) detection serves as a marker for active HBV infection and infectivity whereas anti-HCV is a marker that shows someone has been exposed to HCV previously
Summary
Hepatitis is the inflammation of liver, most commonly caused by viral infections. Five hepatotropic viruses (A to E) are known to cause hepatitis. Hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) are of greater importance and among the most frequent viral infections in humans [1, 2]. HBV is estimated to result in 780,000 deaths and HCV in 350,000 to 500,000 deaths annually [3, 4]. Viral hepatitis is a life-threatening liver disease that has become important public health issue in developing countries including Ethiopia. This study was undertaken to determine the seroprevalence of HBsAgs and anti-HCV antibodies and what socio-demographic factors are associated with sero-positivity of Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) and Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) infections among pregnant women attending maternity ward of Felege Hiwot Referral Hospital, northwest, Ethiopia
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