Prevalence of hepatitis B virus infection among children born to mothers with hepatitis B in Maha Sarakham province during 2015-2019

Abstract

The aims of this study are to identify a prevalence of Hepatitis B infections among children who were born from Hepatitis B infected mothers, to study descriptive epidemiology of children and mother, and to study the association of children vaccinated with HBV and immunization. The study was a retrospective descriptive study.  The sample sizes were 168 children, being born from infected mothers who had participated in a project called “2020 Hepatitis-B elimination from mother to child” in Maha Sarakham province. Data- recorded forms had been used as tools, collecting data from January until June 2020. Data analysis was performed by using a descriptive statistic and the associations were tested by Fisher’s Exact Test. Results of the study revealed that 1) the prevalence of children who were born from Hepatitis-B infected mothers in Maha Sarakham province during 2015 to 2019 was 2 percent. 2) For general information of 186 children, there were 53 percent of boys, whose ages were between 9 months old to 5 years old, 44.62 percent had received HBIG, 89.24 percent had completed Hepatitis B Vaccine and 76.34 percent had Hepatitis B immunity. A total of 168 Hepatitis-B infected mothers had an average age of 31 years old, 33.87 percent worked as general contractors, 99.46 percent had acknowledged the situation of Hepatitis-B infection during their pregnancies, 8 percent had received Tenofovir Disoproxil Fumarate and only 5 percent had been referred to treatment processes. 3) There were the associations between receiving HBV vaccination and immune development without statistically significant relationship (p-value>0.05). From the results, the completed doses of Hepatitis B immunoglobulin and Hepatitis B Vaccination should be provided to the infected children. Moreover, HBV screenings and Hepatitis-B immunizations should be examined comprehensively as well as developing a practice of referral systems and proper treatments for infected mothers and children in order to decrease the morbidity rates of liver cirrhosis and liver cancer in the future