title: Detrimental effects of hepatitis B virus infection on the development of the product of conception.
abstract: Frequent reproductive casualties (spontaneous abortions, stillbirths, prematurity and low birth weight, congenital malformations) were recorded in a group of 264 women who had viral hepatitis (VH) during pregnancy. The proportion of such events was much higher in the HBsAg-positive women (80%) than in the seronegative ones (44%) and it varied according to the trimester when VH had occurred. Liver disease could be incriminated as the main cause of infant death in 20 out of 2110 cases investigated; 6 of the 20 mothers proved to be HBsAg-positive. Asymptomatic HBsAg carriage in a group of 3800 pregnant women was found to be of about 8%; the prevalence of HBsAg was higher in the subgroups of women with an unfavourable pregnancy evolution.
mesh_terms: D000022:Abortion, Spontaneous / Q000209:etiology; D000013:Congenital Abnormalities / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D005313:Fetal Death / Q000209:etiology; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000150:complications*; D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens / Q000032:analysis; D006801:Humans; D007230:Infant, Low Birth Weight; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008107:Liver Diseases / Q000151:congenital; D007752:Obstetric Labor, Premature / Q000209:etiology; D011247:Pregnancy; D011251:Pregnancy Complications, Infectious; D011261:Pregnancy Trimester, First; D011262:Pregnancy Trimester, Second; D011263:Pregnancy Trimester, Third
chemical_list: D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens