Seroprevalence & Risk Factors of Hepatitis B Surface Antigen among Pregnant Women Attending a Tertiary Care Hospital of Southern Rajasthan, India

ABSTRACT

Background: Hepatitis B virus infection is a major global health problem and India accounts for 10- 15%of the entire pool of HBV carriers of the world. Prevalence of Hepatitis B in pregnant women worldwide is 2.5 to 1.5%, whereas in India it is 2 to 7%. Hepatitis B virus is a double stranded DNA virus. The study was undertaken to determine the seroprevalence of Hepatitis B among the pregnant women in southern part of Rajasthan at a rural based tertiary care teaching hospital. Methods: This is a prospective study conducted at a tertiary care hospital, Udaipur, Rajasthan, from August 2015 to December 2017.Blood samples were collected from 1011 pregnant women with age ranging from 15- 45 years. Screening of HBsAg was done by RPHA method and positive HBsAg tests were confirmed by ELISA. The data of those , who were found to be positive for HBsAg was statistically analyzed with the chi square tests, and results were considered significant if the p value was <0.05. Results: The overall HBsAg seroprevalence rate was 1.28%, among the total 1011 pregnant women included in this study. HBsAg seroprevalence was highest, (1.64%) in 15-25 years of age group, and 1.71% in the second trimester of pregnancy. The correlations of seroprevalence rate of HBsAg among selected age groups and according to second trimester of pregnancy were not found statistically significant. (p value>0.05) Conclusion: In this study the seroprevalence of Hepatitis B surface antigen was 1.28%. To prevent vertical transmission in the pregnant women, they should be screened for HBsAg at the first antenatal visit for appropriate management.