title: Secular trend of age-specific prevalence of hepatitis B surface and e antigenemia in pregnant women in Taiwan.
abstract: To elucidate the impact of aging of hepatitis B carrier women on their viral replicative markers in a hepatitis B endemic area, all the parturients admitted to the Hospital were studied from 1985 to 2000. Serum hepatitis B surface (HBsAg) and hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) were tested by radioimmunoassay. Mann-Whitney U and Student's t-tests were used for statistical analysis. The results showed the yearly prevalence rate of HBsAg in pregnant women seemed stable with a mean of 12.0 +/- 1.1% during the period. The yearly positive rate of HBeAg among HBsAg-positive pregnant women varied between 30.4% and 42.6% from 1985 to 1992 and declined from 29.6% in 1993 to 18.1% in 2000. The mean ratio of HBeAg/HBsAg in carrier parturients was 24.7% [intraquantile range (IQR) 20.5-28.4] from 1993 to 2000, which was significantly lower than that of 32.4% (IQR 31.0-39.0) from 1985 to 1992 (P < 0.0001). The mean age of HBeAg-positive primiparas from 1993 to 2000 was 29.1 +/- 3.9 years and significantly higher than that of 28.0 +/- 3.7 years from 1985 to 1993 (P < 0.001), as well as in secundiparas 31.2 +/- 3.8 years vs. 30.1 +/- 3.4 years (P < 0.001) and in total parturients 30.3 +/- 4.2 years vs. 29.3 +/- 3.8 years (P < 0.001). Thus, no significant decrease of HBsAg carriage was observed in the past 16 years, whereas a decreased ratio of HBeAg/HBsAg was noted in carrier parturients in the past 8 years and the elderly HBeAg-positive parturients from 1993 to 2000 may be the cause.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, College of Medicine and the Hospital, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan. hhlin@ha.mc.ntu.edu.tw
authors.forename: Ho-Hsiung
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Jia-Horng
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Kao
authors.forename: Ting-Chen
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: Hong-Yuan
authors.initials: HY
authors.lastname: Hsu
authors.forename: Ding-Shinn
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000367:Age Factors; D002353:Carrier State / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology; D005260:Female; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology; D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens / Q000097:blood*; D006513:Hepatitis B e Antigens / Q000097:blood*; D006515:Hepatitis B virus / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006801:Humans; D011247:Pregnancy; D011251:Pregnancy Complications, Infectious / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology; D015995:Prevalence; D013624:Taiwan / Q000453:epidemiology
chemical_list: D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens; D006513:Hepatitis B e Antigens