Prevalence of overt and occult hepatitis B viral infection among pregnant women attending antenatal clinics in Edo state university teaching hospital Auchi, Nigeria.

Background: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection remains a major health challenge in Nigeria, with high prevalence rates among pregnant women. The prevalence of overt and occult hepatitis B infection (HBI and HBI) among pregnant women was investigated to understand the burden and associated risk factors in this population.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 200 pregnant women. Socio-demographic and clinical data were collected, and blood samples were screened for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and hepatitis B virus DNA (HBV-DNA) using Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) and real time Polymerase Chain Reaction max Eco 48 system. Data were analyzed using GraphPad Prism software (v6) and Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (IBM SPSS 23.0). A significance level of P ≤ 0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Results: The overall prevalence of hepatitis B infection was 6.0% (12/200), comprising 2.5% HBI and 3.5% HBI. The participants, aged 19 to 43 years, were predominantly married (89.5%) and urban-dwelling (69.0%), with diverse educational levels and occupations. There were no statistically significant differences in demographic factors such as age, marital status, or education between HBI and HBI groups. However, significant associations were observed between HBV infection and risk factors including blood transfusion (p = 0.01), cigarette exposure (p = 0.03), and alcohol consumption (p = 0.01). Viral load was significantly higher in the HBIov group [4.84 log IU/mL (IQR: 4.00-9.14)] compared to the HBIoc group [2.30 log IU/mL (IQR: 2.19-3.00)] (p = 0.001).

Conclusion: The findings reveal a 6.0% prevalence of hepatitis B infection among pregnant women, with 3.5% overt and 2.5% occult infections. The results emphasize the need for HBV DNA testing in screening protocols to detect occult and overt HB infections and address key risk factors to improve antenatal care and prevention strategies.