Hepatitis C: frequency, risk factors and pregnancy outcome

ABSTRACT

To determine the frequency of HCV in pregnant women, to find out the risk factors for HCV in pregnant women and to compare the pregnancy outcome of HCV positive with HCV negative mother. Case - control study. Obstetrics and Gynecology Department of Isra University Hospital Hyderabad, from Nov 2007 to August 2008. Study was conducted on pregnant women who were screened for HCV antibody during antenatal consultation and were admitted for delivery. Five ml blood was drawn from each patient and serum was tested for anil HCV by ELIZA. Detailed history was taken for evaluation of risk factors. All results were analyzed on statistical software SPSS version 16. Fishers exact test or Chi square were applied among the categorical variables. Frequencies and percentages and 95% confidence intervals were calculated. Student t test was also used to compare the mean [2 tailed] of numerical parameters. P value of less than or equal to 0.05 was considered as significant. Frequency of hepatitis C in our study was 8% [n-23]. After computing the measures of association for cases and controls with regard to the risk factors, history of previous surgery [p=0.01], blood transfusion [p=0.02], dental surgery [p=0.004] and history of injections [p=0.01] were found to have significant association with HCV positive status of the patients. Logistic regression was used to control the effects of various risk factors under study and to find out the direct effect of risk factors on HCV positive status. Using logistic regression, history of previous surgery [p=0.01], blood transfusion [p=0.02], dental surgery [p=0.04] and history of injections [p= <0.001] were found to have significant association with HCV positively in our study. Statistically no significant difference was found in birth weight, gestational age and Apgar score of new bom in cases and control groups. Frequency of hepatitis C in our study was 8%. No adverse effect on pregnancy outcome was observed when compared to controls