Sero-Prevalence and Associated Factors of Hepatitis B Virus Among Pregnant Women at North West Ethiopia: An Institution-Based Cross-Sectional Study

BACKGROUND: Hepatitis B virus is a public health problem in the world. It is a major cause of chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis, and hepatic cellular carcinoma. The presence of a confirmed HBsAg result is indicative of ongoing HBV infection. This study aims to assess the sero-prevalence and associated factors of the hepatitis B virus among pregnant women in North West Ethiopia. METHODS AND MATERIALS: An institution-based cross-sectional study was conducted at Debre Markos Referral Hospital from January to July 2017. A consecutive 338 pregnant women attending the antenatal clinic were included. A structured questionnaire was used to assess hepatitis B virus infection associated factors and some socio-demographic characteristics. A 5 mL of venous blood was collected from each study participant and plasma was separated and analyzed using a rapid HBsAg kit and further confirmed by double sandwich ELISA. The data were analyzed using SPSS software version 24. RESULTS: The mean age of the study participants was 27 (SD ± 4.75) years. The sero-prevalence of hepatitis B virus in pregnant women was 28 (8.3%). Body tattooing practice (AOR = 4.94 95% CI, 1.87–13.0), multi-partner sexual intercourse (AOR = 4.48 95% CI, 1.89–10.5) and family hepatitis B history (AOR = 7.40 95% CI, 2.23–24.5) were statistically significantly associated with HBV infection (p = 0.001). CONCLUSION: The prevalence of hepatitis B infection is very high among pregnant women in the study area. Awareness creation on modes of transmission and early screening of all pregnant women attending antenatal care must be strengthened to minimize and control infection.