Abstract
Hepatitis B infection is a serious global public health problem. The aim of the study was to assess the seroprevalance of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), as well as the risk factors associated with hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection among pregnant women attending antenatal care clinics of the University Hospital in Antioch, Turkey. This descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out between May 2016 and December 2016. The Chi-squared was utilized to estimate the statistical significance of the association between socio-demographic variables and HBsAg status. The results were generated as proportions odds ratio (OR) with their 95% confidence intervals (Cl) and calculated by using both univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis. The seroprevalence of HBsAg was found to be 2.1%. A significant association was observed between age and HBsAg seropositivity (p = 0.027). History of blood transfusion (AOR = 9.51, 95% CI = 1.92-46.80, p = 0.006), history of hepatitis (AOR = 11.13, 95% CI = 2.02-61.28, p = 0.006), tattooing (AOR = 13.64, 95% CI = 2.52-73.76, p = 0.002) and a history of household/close contact (AOR = 11.10, 95% CI = 1.56-78.65, p = 0.016) were significantly associated with the risk of HBV infection. Data regarding the seroprevalence of HBsAg and risk factors associated with HBV infection in pregnant women plays a crucial role in evaluating the effectiveness of the public health protection policies and the strategies to control the disease.
Highlights
IntroductionThe aim of the study was to assess the seroprevalance of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), as well as the risk factors associated with hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection among pregnant women attending antenatal care clinics of the University Hospital in Antioch, Turkey
Hepatitis B infection is a serious global public health problem
In the present study, we investigated the seroprevalence of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and potential risk factors assotiated with hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection among pregnant women living at Antioch in Southern Turkey
Summary
The aim of the study was to assess the seroprevalance of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), as well as the risk factors associated with hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection among pregnant women attending antenatal care clinics of the University Hospital in Antioch, Turkey. Conclusions: Data regarding the seroprevalence of HBsAg and risk factors associated with HBV infection in pregnant women plays a crucial role in evaluating the effectiveness of the public health protection policies and the strategies to control the disease. Infection with hepatitis B virus (HBV) is one of the world’s serious public health problems [1,2]. If pregnant women are seropositive in terms of both HBsAg and HBeAg, the ratio of the risk transmitting infection increases to 7090% to their neonates [12,13]. Perinatal transmission of HBV many times causes to serious long-term sequelae [14]
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