Τίτλος:
HBeAg negative serological status and low viral replication levels
characterize chronic hepatitis B virus-infected women at reproductive
age in Greece: A one-year prospective single center study
Γλώσσες Τεκμηρίου:
Αγγλικά
Περίληψη:
AIM: To evaluate the seroprevalence of hepatitis B surface antigen
(HBsAg) in 13 581 women at reproductive age and the hepatitis B e
antigen (HBeAg)/anti-HBe status as well as serum hepatitis B virus
(HBV)-DNA levels in a subgroup of HBsAg(+) pregnant women at labor in
Greece.
METHODS: Serological markers were detected using enzyme immunoassays.
Serum HBV-DNA was determined by a sensitive quantitative PCR assay.
Statistical analysis of data was based on parametric methodology.
RESULTS: Overall, 1.156% of women were HBsAg(+) and the majority of
them (71.3%) were Albanian. The prevalence of HBsAg was 5.1% in
Albanian women, 4.2% in Asian women and 1.14% in women from Eastern
European countries. The prevalence of HBsAg in African (0.36%) and
Greek women (0.29%) was very low. Only 4.45% of HBsAg (+) women were
also HBeAg(+) whereas the vast majority of them were
HBeAg(-)/anti-HBe(+). Undetectable levels of viremia (<200 copies/mL)
were observed in 32.26% of pregnant women at labor and 29.03%
exhibited extremely low levels of viral replication (<400 copies/mL).
Only two pregnant women exhibited extremely high serum HBV-DNA levels
(>10 000 000 copies/mL), whereas 32.26% exhibited HBV-DNA levels
between 1 500 and 40 000 copies/mL.
CONCLUSION: The overall prevalence of HBsAg is relatively low among
women at reproductive age in Greece but is higher enough among specific
populations. The HBeAg(-)/anti-HBe(+) serological status and the
extremely low or even undetectable viral replicative status in the
majority of HBsAg(+) women of our study population, suggest that only a
small proportion of HBsAg(+) women in Greece exhibit a high risk for
vertical transmission of the infection. (c) 2005 The WJG Press and
Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Συγγραφείς:
Elefsiniotis, Ioannis S.
Glynou, Irene
Magaziotou, Ioanna and
Pantazis, Konstantinos D.
Fotos, Nikolaos V.
Brokalaki, Hero and
Kada, Helen
Saroglou, George
Περιοδικό:
World Journal of Gastroenterology
Εκδότης:
BAISHIDENG PUBLISHING GROUP INC
Λέξεις-κλειδιά:
Hepatitis B; Reproductive age; Vertical transmission; HBeAg; HBV-DNA
DOI:
10.3748/wjg.v11.i31.4879
