Sero-prevalence and Risk Factors Associated with Hepatitis B Virus Infections among Pregnant Women at Shone Hospital, Southern Ethiopia: A Cross-sectional Study

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is a serious liver infection that affects millions of people around the world. The risk of vertical transmission from an infected woman to her fetus is extremely significant when HBV is identified during pregnancy. As a result, the goal of this study was to determine the seroprevalence of HBV infections and its associated risk factors among pregnant women attending antenatal clinic (ANC).

A hospital-based cross-sectional study was conducted on 245 pregnant women attending an antenatal clinic at Shone hospital, Southern Ethiopia from October to December 2020 using a systematic sampling procedure. The data was collected using a structured and pre-tested questionnaire. An enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to detect the Hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg).The data was analyzed using SPSS (version 24.0). With a 95 percent confidence interval (CI), multivariable logistic regression analysis was conducted to assess the relationship between the independent and the dependent variable.

The rate of HBV infection was found to be 4.9%. Abortion (AOR=6.5; 95% CI: 2.20-24.27), blood transfusion (AOR=4; 95% CI: 1.34-13.87), body tattooing (AOR=6.3; 95% CI: 2.30-22.36), and having multiple sexual partners (AOR=11.4; 95% CI: 4.51-17.23) were the contributing factors of HBV.

Considering that HBV is an intermediate trouble in the study region, enhancing antenatal health education programs on HBV transmission and prevention, adhering to infection prevention principles throughout procedures, and testing every pregnant woman for HBV during an ANC visit are all critical steps in limiting the spread of the illness.