Prevalence of Hepatitis B Infections and Associated Risk Factors among Pregnant Women at Hawa Memorial Saviour Hospital in the Abuakwa North Municipality, Ghana

Abstract

Background: Hepatitis B virus infection is one of the most common public health problems worldwide. Over one million people globally are estimated to die annually of virus-related chronic liver disease. The routes of transmission include perinatal transmission at birth, unprotected sexual intercourse, injecting drugs, contaminated blood, and blood products, and through medical practices. In Ghana, there is a paucity of information about the prevalence of the Hepatitis B virus, its risk factors, knowledge, attitude, and practices among the population including pregnant women who are at higher risk of the infection. Methodology: This was a cross-sectional study conducted among a sample of 260 systematically selected pregnant women attending an Antenatal Clinic at Hawa Memorial Saviour Hospital in the Abuakwa North Municipality of the Eastern Region of Ghana. Demographic characteristics, risk factors, and respondents’ perceived knowledge, attitudes and practices on the disease were evaluated using a standardized structured questionnaire. Blood samples of participants were taken to determine their Hepatitis B seroprevalence using the HBV detection kit set device after the questionnaires were administered. Descriptive statistics were used to report on variables of key, while a Person’s ChiSquare test was employed to determine the association between selected variables and an outcome variable. Results: The seropositivity of Hepatitis B among pregnant women was 4.6% which is an intermediate endemicity. The majority of the study participants were between the age group 30-34years (35.38%). However, the study found that the infection rate was highest among age groups 20-24years (12%). The sociodemographic characteristics of the respondents in the study showed that only marital status (p< 0.05) was significantly associated with Hepatitis B infection. There was inadequate knowledge among respondents which was largely due to a low level of education on Hepatitis B infection at the Antenatal clinic of the Hospital. The study also found that respondents that are categorized as having low-risk levels had a seropositivity rate of 5.3% which is higher than the overall seropositivity rate of the study, and even though most people had good practices, Hepatitis B infection was highly prevalent among them. Conclusions: The study showed that Hepatitis B virus infection was highest (12%) among the age groups of 20-24 years. Only the respondents’ marital status (p<0.05) was noted to be significantly associated with infection. The detected inadequate knowledge, attitudes, and practices in the transmission and prevention of the disease call for full attention to the risk factor among respondents in the development of relevant policies and public health programs to address this important public health problem.