Prevalence of Hepatitis B Virus Infection and Factors Associated with Hepatitis B Virus Infection Among Pregnant Women Presented to Antenatal Care Clinics at Adigrat General Hospital in Northern Ethiopia.

BACKGROUND

Hepatitis B infection is among the most common public health concerns globally, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. The prevalence of hepatitis B infection is more common among most vulnerable populations, including pregnant women. However, there are limited studies on hepatitis B virus infection among pregnant women in low-income countries, including Ethiopia, and the previous studies focused on the general population rather than the pregnant women. The purpose of this study was to estimate the prevalence and examine factors associated with hepatitis B virus infection among pregnant women in the Northern Ethiopia.

METHODS

nstitution-based cross-sectional study design and a structured face-to-face interview were used to collect data from the study participants. Simple random sampling method was used to select eligible study participants. Data were entered using EpiData version 3.1, and SPSS version 20 was used for the data analysis. We analyzed the data to examine factors associated with hepatitis B virus infection using binary and multivariable logistic regression models.

RESULTS

The overall prevalence of hepatitis B virus infection among the study participants was 9.2%. The majority (46.7%) of the study participants infected by hepatitis B were in the age group 25-34 years. The study found that married study participants were more likely to be infected by hepatitis B when compared to the unmarried study participants. Having history of abortion [OR = 0.12 (95% CI: 0.03, 0.47), < 0.01] and having history of tattooing [OR = 0.21 (95% CI: 0.07, 0.62), < 0.01] were found to be statistically significantly associated with the prevalence of hepatitis B virus infection among pregnant women.

CONCLUSION

A significant number of pregnant women participating in the study were infected by the hepatitis B virus which needs efficient intervention to reduce the infection rate. Further, educational status, having history of surgery, dental procedure, ear piercing, abortion and tattooing were found statistically to be significant before controlling for confounders. But, after controlling for confounders, only having history of tattooing and having history of abortion were found to be independent factors affecting the prevalence of the infection.