Hepatitis B and C virus prevalence in couples attending an in vitro fertilization clinic in a tertiary care hospital in Saudi Arabia: comparison with ten years earlier

BACKGROUND: Viral hepatitis B (HBV) and C (HCV) are a major public health problem in Saudi Arabia. Recent data has indicated a major reduction in viral hepatitis prevalence in Saudi population. However, there is limited data for infertile Saudi couples. OBJECTIVES: To determine the prevalence of HCV and HBV attending an in vitro fertilization (IVF) clinic in Saudi Arabia between 2012 and 2015 to compare with the prevalence 10 years earlier in the same center. DESIGN: Retrospective prevalence study. SETTING: Tertiary care center in Riyadh. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Data on the prevalence of HBV and HCV was collected on all couples seen at the IVF unit between 2002 – 2005 and 2012 – 2015. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Prevalence of HBV and HCV. RESULTS: In 4442 patients during 2002–2005 and 5747 patients during 2012–2015, the prevalence of HBV was significantly less in 2012–2015 compared with 2002–2005 (1.67% [97 patients] vs 4.7% [210 patients], P<.0001), respectively, but HCV prevalence was similar for the two periods (0.7% for both periods) (P=.887). The hepatitis B seroprevalence rate was higher in males compared to females during 2002–2005 (6.3% vs 3.1%) (P<.0001) and 2012–2015 (2.4% vs 1.1% ) (P<.0001), respectively. CONCLUSION: The significant drop in HBV prevalence was most likely due to the introduction of the vaccination program in 1989, while reasons for HCV prevalence remaining unchanged are unclear. LIMITATION: No data on confounding factors that may have affected the prevalence.