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Intrapartum hepatitis B screening
1Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Bowman Gray School of Medicine of Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC 27157-1066, USA.
Objective:
The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of acute hepatitis B in intrapartum patients and to describe the birth-to-administration interval of the hepatitis B vaccine and immune globulin in hepatitis B surface antigen-positive patients detected by intrapartum screening.
Study Design:
Hepatitis B screening was performed on 8712 laboring patients admitted to Forsyth Memorial Hospital in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, between July 1, 1992, and Jan. 31, 1994.
Results:
Fourteen laboring patients had positive results for hepatitis B surface antigen (prevalence 0.16%), and two of the 14 had a profile consistent with acute disease. The average interval from birth to administration of the hepatitis B immune globulin and hepatitis B virus vaccine was 18.6 hours (range 3.9 to 31.0 hours) for hepatitis B virus-infected patients whose hepatitis B surface antigen status was unknown before labor.
Conclusion:
Intrapartum screening allows for diagnosis of the asymptomatic patient with acute hepatitis B virus infection whose hepatitis B surface antigen status was unknown before labor who would not have received hepatitis B immune globulin had only early prenatal screening been performed.