Use of Hepatitis B-e Antigen to Identify Pregnant Women With Hepatitis B Virus Infection Who Need Antiviral Therapy for Prevention of Mother-to-child Transmission

Objective To evaluate the performance of hepatitis B-e antigen (HBeAg) for identifying pregnant women infected with hepatitis B virus (HBV) who are having a high viral load. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted at the tertiary care hospital in Bangkok, Thailand between August 2017 and August 2018. Ninety-six pregnant women having positive hepatitis B-s antigen (HBsAg) results were invited to participate into the study. Clinical data and blood samples were collected and tested for HBeAg and HBV DNA levels. Data were reported as percentage and 95% confidence interval (CI). Results High viral load was found in 25 women (26.0%, 95% CI: 18.3% to 35.6%) and HBeAg showed positive results in 33 women (34.4%, 95% CI: 25.6% to 44.3%). Among antiviral-naive women, 24 of 30 cases having positive HBeAg results had high viral load (80.0%, 95% CI: 62.7% to 90.5%) while only 1 of 62 negative HBeAg women had high viral load (1.6%, 95% CI: 0.3% to 8.6%). Conclusion About one-fourth of HBV-infected pregnant women were at high risk for mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) of the virus and needed antiviral drugs for reducing MTCT. HBeAg may be used to identify women at high risk for MTCT of HBV in a low-resource setting where HBV DNA level test is not available.