Publication:

Seroprevalence and determinants of hepatitis B viral status in pregnant women attending antenatal clinics in an urban community of Oyo state, South-West Nigeria

Background The burden of hepatitis B virus (HBV) is assuming an epidemic proportion globally, causing grave hepatic and other complications. Mother-to-child transmission is one of the main ways of acquiring the disease. It is thus incumbent on researchers to delve more into the epidemiology of HBV. The objectives of this study is to assess respondents’ knowledge on HBV, estimated the burden of the disease among pregnant women attending antennal clinics in Ogbomoso, Nigeria and identified significant determinants of HBV positive status of the participants.

Methods This facility-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 168 pregnant women recruited using systematic random technique. Pretested interviewer-administered, semi-structured questionnaire was used for data collection. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were carried out.

Results Mean age of the respondents was 34±10 years, 90.5% of the respondents were 20-40 years old. HBV awareness level among the respondents was 51.8% and more than half (59.5%) of them possessed poor knowledge of the virus. Twelve percent (12.0%) of the respondents were seropositive for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg). Significant determinants of HBsAg positivity were; Level of education (AOR=0.11, CI=1.56-3.47), Socio-economic class (AOR=3.23, CI=1.48-3.02) and family type (AOR=4.51, CI=0.19-0.35).

Conclusions The burden of HBV was high among pregnant women in the study population. Awareness and knowledge of the respondent was low. Authors recommend aggressive awareness campaigns on the disease. Improving the socio-economic conditions of women will go a long way in reducing the scourge of this dreadful disease in Nigeria.