Prevalence of hepatitis B among pregnant women and its impact on pregnancy and newborn complications at a tertiary hospital in the eastern part of Germany.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Prevalence data of hepatitis B virus (HBV) in pregnant women in the Eastern part of Germany are missing. More importantly, no data on HBV's impact on pregnancy is known in patients living in the Western hemisphere. Our aim was to assess the prevalence of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and its impact on pregnancy in women admitted to the department of gynecology at a German university hospital.

PATIENTS AND

METHODS

8,193 women who delivered at the university hospital between 2001 and 2006 were retrospectively screened for HBsAg and if positive investigated for pregnancy and newborn complications in comparison to women without hepatitis B infection.

RESULTS

39 (0.48%) women were found to be HBsAg carriers, which is in line with other data showing lower rates in Eastern parts of Germany in relation to the Western part. Furthermore, prevalence was much lower in German-born women (0.2%) in comparison to Asian-born women (9.1%). Secondly, women with HBsAg had no significantly increased prevalence of adverse pregnancy outcomes.

CONCLUSION

There is a low prevalence of HBV infection, especially among German-born women. There is no significant evidence to support increased complications in relation to HBV infection in our study.