Hepatitis B virus infection among pregnant women in Haiti: A cross-sectional serosurvey

Abstract

Background Hepatitis B vaccine administered shortly after birth is highly effective in preventing mother to child transmission (MTCT) of infection. While hepatitis B vaccine was introduced in Haiti as part of a combined pentavalent vaccine in 2012, a birth dose is not yet included in the immunization schedule. Objectives Determine the seroprevalence of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection among pregnant women to evaluate the risk of MTCT. Study design We selected 1364 residual serum specimens collected during a 2012 human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) sentinel serosurvey among pregnant women attending antenatal care clinics. Haiti was stratified into two regions: West, which includes metropolitan Port-au-Prince, and non-West, which includes all other departments. We evaluated the association between demographic and socioeconomic characteristics and HIV infection with HBV infection. Results Of 1364 selected specimens, 1307 (96%) were available for testing. A total of 422 specimens (32.7%) tested positive for total anti-HBc (38.2% in West vs. 27% in non-West, p < 0.001), and 33 specimens (2.5%) were HBsAg positive (2.1% in West vs. 3% in non-West, p = 0.4). Of HBsAg positive specimens, 79% had detectable HBV DNA. Women aged 30 and older had more than double the odds of positive total anti-HBc than women aged 15–19 years (p < 0.001). Women with secondary (adjusted odds ratio (aOR) = 0.54; 95% CI: 0.36–0.81) and post-secondary education (aOR = 0.40, 95% CI: 0.19–0.79) had lower odds of total anti-HBc positivity compared with women with no education. HIV-status was not associated with HBV infection. Conclusions Haiti has an intermediate endemicity of chronic HBV infection with high prevalence of positive HBV DNA among chronically infected women. Introduction of a universal birth dose of hepatitis B vaccine might help prevent perinatal HBV transmission.

Seroprevalence of hepatitis B surface antigen and associated risk factors among pregnant women

“…Likewise, Lao et al [34] have reported a positive correlation between age and prevalence (p = 0.006) in Hong Kong. While a significant association was recorded between age and HBsAg seropositivity in the some studies [18,34], in the others [26,29,31,33,[35][36][37] no significant difference have reported between age and HBsAg seropositivity. In the present study, the highest seroprevalance of HBsAg was among the age group 36-45 years.…”

Prevalence and burden of HBV co‐infection among people living with HIV: A global systematic review and meta‐analysis

“… c Denotes prevalence (total) derived from samples of PLHIV pregnant women among the population group PLHIV (heterosexual and pregnant women) including: Cameroon (2) 9.3%, 14.6%; Cote D’Ivoire (1) 9.0%; Nigeria (1) 4.2%; South Africa (3) 6.2%, 3.4%, 2.1%; Malawi (1) 8.7%; Rwanda (1) 2.4%; Tanzania (1) 6.2%; Uganda (1) 4.9%; Brazil (5) 1.9%, 0.5%, 2.3%, 0.9%, 1.2%; USA (1) 2.9%; Canada (1) 5.6%; Haiti (1) 2.4%; France (2) 6.0%, 6.9%; the Netherlands (1) 4.9%, and Morocco (1). …”

Racial/ethnic- and county-specific prevalence of chronic hepatitis B and its burden in California

“…For example, the Japanese foreign born distribution was reported to be 27% in the US [ 15 ]. Next, we collected race/ethnicity- and nativity-specific HBsAg prevalence data among White [ 11 ], Hispanic [ 11 , 18 ], Black [ 11 , 19 – 21 ] and APIs [ 2 , 11 , 19 , 22 – 24 ] in the US from the literature. Jung et al reported a 0% (353 people tested) of HBsAg prevalence among 70+ year old Hispanic population, which we decided not to take and assume the same prevalence for 60+ as the 60–69 age-group (0.38%).…”