Serological and virological profile of chronic HBV infected women at reproductive age in Greece. A two-year single center study.
OBJECTIVE
Seroprevalence of HBsAg in 26,746 women at reproductive age in Greece and evaluation of HBeAg/anti-HBe serological status as well as serum HBV-DNA levels in a subgroup of HBsAg(+) women at labor.


METHODS
Serological markers were detected using enzyme immunoassays. Serum HBV-DNA was calculated using a sensitive quantitative PCR assay, with a lower limit of quantification of 200 copies/ml.


RESULTS
Overall, 1.53% of women were HBsAg(+) and the majority of them (64.96%) were Albanian. Among Albanian women the mean prevalence of HBsAg was 4.9%, 5.57% among Asian women, and 1.29% among women from Eastern European countries. The prevalence of HBsAg among African (0.29%) and Greek women (0.57%) was very low and significantly lower in comparison with the mean value of the studied population. Only 2.67% of HBsAg(+) women were HBeAg(+). Of a subgroup of women in labor with available serum samples 28.6% had undetectable levels of viremia (<200 copies/ml) and 15.9% had extremely low levels of viral replication (<400 copies/ml). Only 12.7% of pregnant women evaluated at labor exhibited extremely high serum HBV-DNA levels (>10,000,000 copies/ml) whereas 42.8% of them exhibited HBV-DNA levels between 1500 and 40,000 copies/ml.


CONCLUSIONS
The overall prevalence of HBsAg is relatively low among women at reproductive age in Greece but is higher among specific ethnic populations (Asian, Albanian). The HBeAg(-)/antiHBe(+) serological status is a finding observed in the vast majority of HBsAg(+) women of our study population, and a significant percentage of them (approximately 44.5%) exhibit extremely low or even undetectable levels of viral replication at labor, suggesting possibly that only a proportion of HBsAg(+) women in Greece exhibit an extremely high risk of vertical transmission of the infection.
Elefsiniotis
Ioannis S
IS
Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Nursing, University of Athens, Helena Venizelou Hospital, Athens, Greece. ielefs@acn.gr
Glynou
Irene
I
Brokalaki
Hero
H
Magaziotou
Ioanna
I
Pantazis
Konstantinos D
KD
Fotiou
Aikaterini
A
Liosis
George
G
Kada
Helen
H
Saroglou
George
G
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000415:Albania / Q000208:ethnology; D044466:Asian People / Q000208:ethnology; D004641:Emigration and Immigration; D005260:Female; D006115:Greece / Q000453:epidemiology; D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens / Q000097:blood; D006513:Hepatitis B e Antigens / Q000097:blood; D006515:Hepatitis B virus / Q000235:genetics; D019694:Hepatitis B, Chronic / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000635:transmission; D006801:Humans; D018445:Infectious Disease Transmission, Vertical; D008875:Middle Aged; D011247:Pregnancy; D011251:Pregnancy Complications, Infectious / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000208:ethnology; D015995:Prevalence; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies; D012698:Serologic Tests; D019562:Viral Load
D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens; D006513:Hepatitis B e Antigens