Afzali H, Momen Heravi M, Moravveji SA, Poorrahnama M. Prevalence of Hepatitis B Surface Antigen in Pregnant Women in Beheshti Hospital of Kashan, Isfahan.
IRANIAN RED CRESCENT MEDICAL JOURNAL 2015;
17:e20598. [PMID:
26421168 PMCID:
PMC4584256 DOI:
10.5812/ircmj.20598v2]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/24/2014] [Revised: 11/28/2014] [Accepted: 05/15/2015] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
Abstract
Background:
The transmission of hepatitis B virus (HBV) is parenteral, sexual and prenatal. Prevention of vertical transmission of HBV is extremely important, because HBV infection in early life usually results in a chronic carrier state. There has been so much debate about hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) screening in pregnant women.
Objectives:
The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of HBsAg+ among pregnant women referred to Beheshti hospital in Kashan in 2012.
Patients and Methods:
This descriptive study was carried out on 768 pregnant women, hospitalized in Beheshti Hospital of Kashan in 2012. After obtaining consent forms, the questionnaires including demographic and HBV infection-associated risk factors were filled through interview and then 5 mL blood was taken from each patient and HBsAg was examined by the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method. These data were analyzed by statistical package for the social science (SPSS) software.
Results:
A total of 12 (1.56%) out of 768 pregnant women were HBsAg+. The mean age of HBsAg+ cases was 24.5 ± 4 years. Most of the HBsAg+ cases (66.6%) were uneducated; 17.7% of the pregnant women were not Iranian, of which 7.4% were HBsAg+. There was no high-risk job, recent dentistry interruption or skin tattoo among the HBsAg+ cases.
Conclusions:
In this study, 1.56% of pregnant women were HBsAg+, which was higher than the previous studies. This increasing prevalence may be due to the increase of non-Iranians’ migrations to Iran. Control of migration and screening and vaccination of these groups should be considered by health policy makers.
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