Serological and virological profile of chronic HBV infected women at reproductiv

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Serological and virological profile of chronic HBV infected women at

reproductive age in Greece

A two-year single center study

Ioannis S. Elefsiniotisa, , , Irene Glynoub, Hero Brokalakia, Ioanna

Magaziotouc, Konstantinos D. Pantazisa, Aikaterini Fotiouc, Liosisc,

Helen Kadab and Sarogloua

aDepartment of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Nursing, University of Athens,

“Helena Venizelou” Hospital, Athens, Greece

bDepartment of Microbiology, “Helena Venizelou” Hospital, Athens, Greece

cDepartment of Neonatology, “Helena Venizelou” Hospital, Athens, Greece

Received 10 December 2005; revised 14 July 2006; accepted 29 August 2006.

Available online 9 October 2006.

Abstract

Objective

Seroprevalence of HBsAg in 26,746 women at reproductive age in Greece and

evaluation of HBeAg/anti-HBe serological status as well as serum HBV–DNA

levels in a subgroup of HBsAg(+) women at labor.

Study design

Serological markers were detected using enzyme immunoassays. Serum HBV–DNA

was calculated using a sensitive quantitative PCR assay, with a lower limit

of quantification of 200 copies/ml.

Results

Overall, 1.53% of women were HBsAg(+) and the majority of them (64.96%) were

Albanian. Among Albanian women the mean prevalence of HBsAg was 4.9%, 5.57%

among Asian women, and 1.29% among women from Eastern European countries.

The prevalence of HBsAg among African (0.29%) and Greek women (0.57%) was

very low and significantly lower in comparison with the mean value of the

studied population. Only 2.67% of HBsAg(+) women were HBeAg(+). Of a

subgroup of women in labor with available serum samples 28.6% had

undetectable levels of viremia (<200 copies/ml) and 15.9% had extremely low

levels of viral replication (<400 copies/ml). Only 12.7% of pregnant women

evaluated at labor exhibited extremely high serum HBV–DNA levels

(>10,000,000 copies/ml) whereas 42.8% of them exhibited HBV–DNA levels

between 1500 and 40,000 copies/ml.

Conclusions

The overall prevalence of HBsAg is relatively low among women at

reproductive age in Greece but is higher among specific ethnic populations

(Asian, Albanian). The HBeAg( & #8722;)/antiHBe(+) serological status is a

finding observed in the vast majority of HBsAg(+) women of our study

population, and a significant percentage of them (approximately 44.5%)

exhibit extremely low or even undetectable levels of viral replication at

labor, suggesting possibly that only a proportion of HBsAg(+) women in

Greece exhibit an extremely high risk of vertical transmission of the

infection.

Keywords: Hepatitis B; Reproductive age; Vertical transmission; HBeAg;

HBV–DNA

Corresponding author at: Carchidonos 9, A. Glyfada GR-16562, Greece. Tel.:

+30 210 9630312; fax: +30 210 7787807.

European Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology and Reproductive Biology

Volume 132, Issue 2, June 2007, Pages 200-203

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