[Prenatal screening and the prevalence of hepatitis B infection in pregnant women in the Marche Region (Central Italy): differences between ethnic groups].

to evaluate the epidemiology of hepatitis B infection in pregnant women living in the Marche Region (Central Italy), according to the Country of origin.cross sectional observational study conducted from May 2011 to April 2012, which involved 13 of the 15 birthing centres in the Marche region.serological data of hepatitis B infection were obtained during the execution of mandatory prenatal screening. The total number of pregnant women was of 10,232 of which 7,669 were Italian (74.9%) and 2,563 were foreign (25.1%).rate of adherence to prenatal serologic screening and prevalence of hepatitis B infection in Italian and foreign pregnant women. The 95% confidence intervals were calculated using the exact method for proportions. The test for proportions was applied to make comparisons between groups (significance level: 0.05).the rate of adherence to prenatal serologic screening and the overall prevalence of hepatitis B infection in pregnancy ware 98.6% and 0.8%, respectively. In foreign women, compared to native ones, differences of adherence to screening and the prevalence of infection were significant (96.7% vs. 99.3% and 2.7% vs. 0.2%). The highest prevalence was observed in pregnant women who came from the Western Pacific Region, Eastern Europe, and Africa (7.0%, 4.0%, and 3.3%, respectively). More than half of the cases of pregnant women, positive for hepatitis B surface antigen, were originating in Albania and China (60.6%). The prevalence of hepatitis B infection was significantly higher in pregnant women from China (8.1%), Albania (7.7%), Ukraine (7.2%), and Senegal (6.1%).the study emphasises the need to organise targeted interventions to facilitate access to prenatal screening programmes to foreign women for better control of hepatitis B infection in the Marche Region.