ABSTRACT
Six of 511 (1.17%) parturient Saudi females were positive for antibodies to hepatitis C virus (HCV), while one of 171 (0.58%) expatriate female nurses tested positive for the antibody. The prevalence of 1.17% in Saudis compares with 1.2% among pregnant women in Spain, while none of the 40 pregnant women screened in England tested positive for anti-HCV. Antibodies to hepatitis B core antigen in the same sample from Saudi women were positive in 24.6%. Judging by the low prevalence of its antibody, HCV is not as highly endemic as hepatitis B virus (HBV) in this population.
ABSTRACT
The role of cultural and socioeconomic diversities (that is, marriage, conceptions at the extremes of reproductive life, consanguinity, economic affluence and such) were analyzed for significance in the epidemiologic study of gestational trophoblastic disease (GTD) in Saudi Arabia. For the study period, the incidence of hydatidiform mole remained unchanged at a mean of one in 448 pregnancies and one in 6,130 for its malignant counterpart. In the instance of molar pregnancies, the youngest (less than 20 years of age) and the oldest (more than 40 years of age) had significantly higher than expected incidence; in contrast, in malignant GTD, the trend was for a higher than expected frequency for the older age group only (more than 40 years of age). Consanguinity showed no significant epidemiologic role.
