Abstract
Background: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is highly endemic in many Asian countries.
Objectives: We examined whether prior contraceptive methods and sexual behavioral factors impact maternal HBV carriage in an obstetric population.
Patients and Methods: For this study, pregnant women were considered to be representative of the sexually active and fertile female population. Contraceptive methods used prior to the index pregnancy were examined in 1283 pregnant Chinese women attending an antenatal clinic using a self-administered questionnaire, and correlated with the maternal HBV status determined using routine antenatal screening.
Results: In our study, 111 (8.7%) women were infected with HBV and there was no difference in the incidence of male condom usage between HBV-positive (88.3%) and HBV-negative (83.5%) women. No contraceptive method was associated with a reduced incidence of maternal HBV carriage, except for coitus interruptus. In multivariate analysis, only multiparity (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 1.62) and more than 1 sexual partner (aOR, 1.57) were independent factors associated with maternal HBV carriage.
Conclusions: Contraceptive use played only a minimal role in preventing sexual transmission of HBV infection within the sexually active female population in an endemic area.
- Implication for health policy/practice/research/medical education:
This study has shown that in a highly endemic area where the use of condom is very popular, condom or other barrier methods does not impact on the incidence of hepatitis B carrier status in the obstetric population. On the other hand, coitus interruptus was found to be associated with reduced incidence of hepatitis B carriage, and this method may be recommended to hepatitis B naïve women before they achieved immunoprotection following vaccination. -
Please cite this paper as:
Lao TT, Chan OK, Hung Suen SS, Leung TY. Do Prior Contraceptive Methods Impact Maternal Carriage in Patients with Hepatitis B? Hepat Mon. 2011;11(10):829-34. DOI: 10.5812/kowsar.1735143X.774
© 2011 Kowsar M.P.Co. All rights reserved.
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