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Published on: May 10, 2022
Spontaneous preterm birth in women with chronic hepatitis B virus infection
Ioannis Elefsiniotis1, Konstantinos Tsoumakas, Elena Vezali
1University Department of Internal Medicine-Hepatology Unit, Elena Venizelou Hospital, Athens, Greece. ielefs@nurs.uoa.gr
Objective:
To determine whether chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection, as evidenced by serum levels of HBsAg and HBV DNA, is a risk factor for spontaneous preterm birth (SPB).
Method:
The prevalence of HBV infection and the SPB rate were prospectively investigated among 1826 pregnant women, 30.89% Albanian and the remainder of other European origins.
Results:
Overall, 70 (3.8%) of the women were chronically infected with HBV. HBsAg status was strongly linked to SPB, which incurred to 5 (7.3%) of 64 women with circulating HBsAg compared with 28 (1.6%) of 1703 without current HBV infection (odds ratio, 5.2; P=0.007). SPB, however, was linked neither to HBsAg levels, nor to HBV DNA levels, nor to the presence or absence of viremia.
Conclusion:
Pregnant women were found to be at higher risk for SPB if they had circulating HBsAg, and the risk did not seem to be influenced by the levels of HBsAg or HBV DNA.
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