Sero-prevalence and risk factors for maternal and umbilical cord hepatitis B surface antigenaemia at delivery in a South-West Nigerian State

Abstract

Introduction: hepatitis B is a global public health issue affecting about 2 billion people, with 350 million chronic carriers. There is growing pressure to test pregnant women for hepatitis B in Nigeria, as studies show high rates of the virus in both mothers and children. Objectives: this cross-sectional study aimed at determining the seroprevalence of hepatitis B surface antigen among pregnant women and their newborns and identifying risk factors associated with hepatitis B surface antigen positivity among pregnant women receiving care in tertiary hospitals in Ekiti State, Southwest Nigeria. Methods: two hundred women were recruited into the study from Federal Teaching Hospital, Ido-Ekiti, and Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital, Ado-Ekiti between 1st May 2022 and 31st October 2022. The presence of risk factors for hepatitis B infection was sought in the mothers. Maternal venous blood and umbilical cord blood were analyzed for the presence of hepatitis B surface antigen. Data analysis was carried out using a statistical program for social sciences (SPSS) version 28 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, Illinois, USA). Results: the mean age of the women was 30.43 years (SD 4.524). Thirty-three (16.5%) of the women studied were into hospital-related professions while 6 (3%) were hairdressers. Sixteen (16) of the 200 women tested positive for HBsAg giving a maternal sero-prevalence of 8% while only 1 of the 200 babies tested positive for HBsAg with a neonatal sero-prevalence of 0.5%. The vertical transmission was 6.25%. Conclusion: high endemicity of hepatitis B virus infection in pregnancy was demonstrated in the study. It has, therefore, become imperative to strengthen the structure of the various preventive arms of hepatitis B infection in pregnancy such as advocacy on increased community awareness and handling of risk factors, widespread vaccination campaigns, and routine testing during prenatal care.