Sero - Prevalence And Associated Risk Factors of Hepatitis B Virus Amoung Preganat Women in Hawassa University Teaching and Referral Hospital
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Date
2015-06
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Background: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is a public health problem worldwide. It is highly
endemic in Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. Even though there was an introduction of universal
infants HBV immunization in 2007,distribution of HBV remains a public health problem in
Ethiopia.
Objective: To determine the sero-prevalence of HBsAg among pregnant women and to identify
potential risk factors associated with the infection.
Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted from April-May, 2015 among pregnant women
attending the antenatal clinic (ANC) of Hawassa University Teaching and Referral Hospital.
After obtaining written and informed consent, blood sample was collected from 269 pregnant
women using consecutive non- duplicative sampling method. Serum was separated from whole
blood and tested for HBsAg using Bioline strip test and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay
(ELISA) method for further testing. Data was collected using pre-structured questionnaire and
analyzed using SPSS version 21. Chi-square and bivariate logistic regression analysis was used
to determine the association between explanatory variables and the outcome variables. The result
was considered statistically significant at p < 0.05.
Result: In this study, 269 pregnant women were participated. The mean age was 26.0 years
(standard deviation (SD), 4.5; range, 16 –39 years) and the majority of study participants live in
urban 226(84%). The overall prevalence of sero-positive HBsAg among pregnant women was
21(7.8%). The HBV/HIV co-infection rate was 2/14(14.2%). Of the studied risk factors only
educational status [(χ2= 8.1; p- value=0.044)] had significant association with HBV infection.
There was no statistically significant association between history of blood transfusion, multiple
sexual practices, hospital admission, genital mutilation, surgical procedure, body tattooing
history of abortion and HBV infection.
Conclusion: The highest prevalence of HBV infection was detected as compared to the previous
studies in different region of Ethiopia. Hence, screening of pregnant women for HBV
irrespective of basis of risk factor may reduce exposure to HBV infection
Key words: Hepatitis B virus, Risk factors, Pregnant women, Hawassa
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Keywords
Hepatitis B virus, Risk Factors, Pregnant women