Asian Research Journal of Gynaecology and Obstetrics

Background: The hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection has an accelerated rate of transmission from mother to child in pregnancy. A review of the prevalence of HBV infection among pregnant antenatal care attendee may increase knowledge of the infection, thereby possibly contributing to reduction of rate of mother to child transmission of the virus.       

Objective: This study was to assess the prevalence of the HBV infection among pregnant women attending antenatal care at a public tertiary health facility in Makurdi, Benue State, Nigeria.

Methods: This was a retrospective cross-sectional study, in which records of pregnant mothers that attended and accessed antenatal care services at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology of Federal Medical Centre, Makurdi from January, 2016 to December 2021 were retrieved from the hospital’s Record Department database. This was done by testing the patients’ blood for hepatis B surface antigen (HBsAg) during their booking visit. They also had HBV profile testing to different the panels of HBV infection based on virologic markers. The Pregnant mothers with complete data about socio-demographic characteristics and laboratory examination results were included in the study. While those pregnant mothers with incomplete data were excluded from the study. The variables collected include total number of pregnant women who registered for antenatal care in the 6 years of the study, maternal age, parity, educational background, employment status, medical conditions in pregnancy and HBV profile status of the pregnant women. Data was entered and processed using SPSS version 25.

Results: The prevalence rate of HBsAg positivity among the pregnant women attending antenatal care during the studied period was 13.66% (n = 2417). The prevalence rate of HBV infection susceptibility among the pregnant mothers attending antenatal care was observed to be 43.44% while that of HBV immunity was found to be 36.15%. The prevalence of previous/occult infection among the antenatal attendee during the studied period was 14.91%, that of inactive HBsAg carrier and active infection were 4.08% and 0.42%, respectively. According to age distribution, the prevalence of HBsAg in pregnant women increased with age, with the highest positivity rate in pregnant women aged >30 years, followed by those aged 25–29 years. Meanwhile, pregnant women aged <20 years had the lowest rates of HBV infection. Of 849 pregnant women that had HIV in pregnancy, 50.53% (429) were positive to HBsAg serological testing with 11.43% of them having active infection.

Conclusion: The Hepatitis B Virus infection rate still stands high among pregnant mothers attending antenatal clinics at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology of Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Makurdi. The high prevalence rate of HBV infection rate observed during this review could possibly support high rate of infants, children and adult transmission of HBV in Benue State. Hence, to prevent and reduced the rate of mother to child transmission of HBV infection, policy makers, stakeholders as well as non-governmental organizations should intensify efforts to create and sustained awareness campaign about the dangers of hepatitis B virus infection.