HBsAg carrier status and the association between gestational diabetes with increased serum ferritin concentration in Chinese women.
OBJECTIVE
To determine whether the high prevalence of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) carriage in our population can explain the previous observation of an association between increased maternal serum ferritin concentration and gestational diabetes in Hong Kong Chinese women.


METHODS
A retrospective study was performed on 767 nonanemic women with singleton pregnancy who had iron status assessed at 28-30 weeks. The result of the routine antenatal HBsAg screening was retrieved from patient records. The HBsAg-positive and -negative groups were compared for maternal characteristics, prevalence of gestational diabetes in the third trimester, prevalence of high serum ferritin and iron concentrations, and transferrin saturation, which is defined as a value in the highest quartile established by the measurements obtained from the HBsAg-negative group.


RESULTS
The incidences of oral glucose tolerance test and gestational diabetes were significantly increased in the HBsAg-positive group. The HBsAg-positive women with gestational diabetes had significantly increased prevalence of high serum ferritin compared with the HBsAg-negative women, irrespective of the latter's gestational diabetes status. Multiple logistic regression analysis confirmed the independent association between HBsAg carrier status with gestational diabetes (relative risk 3.51, 95% CI 1.83-6.73) but excluded high ferritin as an independent factor.


CONCLUSIONS
Our results indicate that maternal HBsAg carriage could explain in part the association between increased serum ferritin concentration with gestational diabetes in Hong Kong Chinese women, and that HBsAg carrier status is an independent risk factor for gestational diabetes.
Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, the University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China. laotth@hkucc.hku.hk
Terence T
TT
Lao
Ka-Yu
KY
Tse
Louis Y
LY
Chan
Kar-Fai
KF
Tam
Lai-Fong
LF
Ho
D000328:Adult; D044466:Asian People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002353:Carrier State; D016640:Diabetes, Gestational / Q000097:blood / Q000208:ethnology*; D005260:Female; D005293:Ferritins / Q000097:blood*; D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens / Q000097:blood*; D019694:Hepatitis B, Chronic / Q000097:blood / Q000208:ethnology*; D006723:Hong Kong / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D011247:Pregnancy; D015995:Prevalence; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors
D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens; D005293:Ferritins