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HCV and Pregnancy: Prevalence, Risk Factors, and Pregnancy Outcome in North Indian Population: A Case–Control Study

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Abstract

Objectives

The study was carried out to investigate the prevalence, risk factors, and Pregnancy outcome in anti-HCV-positives pregnant women admitted for delivery in the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology of Guru Gobind Singh Medical College and Hospital, Faridkot between January 2010 and January 2013.

Setting

Department of obstetrics and Gynaecology of GGS Medical College and Hospital, Faridkot.

Material and Methods

A case–control study design was selected for the study. A total of 1412 pregnant women presenting in the labor room of our hospital between January 2010 and January 2013 were subjected to anti-HCV testing by third generation ELISA. Age, parity, and gestational age-matched controls were taken from the women delivering during the same time frame who tested negative for hepatitis C. All the subjects and controls were non-reactive for HIV and HBsAg as well. Risk factors and pregnancy outcome were compared with the control group. Approval was taken from ethic committee of the institute. The women who consented to participate in the study were evaluated on the basis of a questionnaire for the presence of risk factors of hepatitis C and pregnancy outcome. Women with the known previous liver disease were excluded from the study. Data were analyzed using SPSS for Windows version 16.0. p < 0.05 was considered significant.

Results

Forty patients tested positive for anti-HCV antibodies among 1,412 patients subjected to anti-HCV testing during study period. 40 patients were taken as controls, who were negative for anti-HCV antibodies. Prevalence of HCV during pregnancy was 2.8 % in our study. Among the risk factors studied, previous surgery and blood transfusion were the statistically significant risk factors. There was history of previous major surgery in 16 cases versus 4 controls and was statistically significant (p value 0.002) at p < 0.05. History of blood transfusion was present in 4 versus 2 among cases and controls, respectively, and statistically significant (p value 0.004) at p < 0.05. Sexual transmission was not the risk factor as none of the spouse of the pregnant women was positive for HCV antibodies. Neonatal outcome was similar in both groups. Pregnancy complications i.e., Pregnancy-induced hypertension and antepartum hemorrhage were significantly higher in study group compared to control group.

Conclusion

Incidence of hepatitis C virus infection in pregnancy is 2.8 %. Surgical procedures, blood transfusion, are the major risk factors for transmission. There are no identifiable risk factors in 35 % of cases. Pregnancy complications like Pregnancy-induced hypertension and antepartum hemorrhage are more common in HCV-positive mothers. Neonatal outcome is not affected. Universal screening of all pregnant women should be done for HCV as many patients may not have any risk factor.

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Compliance with ethical requirements and Conflict of interest

All procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2008 (5). Informed consent was obtained from all patients for being included in the study. An ethical clearance has also been taken from the institutional ethical committee.

The authors of the article Lajya Devi Goyal, Sharanjit Kaur, Neerja Jindal and Harpreet Kaur declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, Guru Gobind Singh Medical College and Hospital, Faridkot, Punjab, India

    Lajya Devi Goyal (Professor) & Harpreet Kaur (Associate professor)

  2. Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University College of Nursing, Baba Farid University of Health Sciences, Faridkot, Punjab, India

    Sharanjit Kaur (Lecturer)

  3. Department of Microbiology, Guru Gobind Singh Medical College and Hospital, Faridkot, Punjab, India

    Neerja Jindal (Professor)

Authors
  1. Lajya Devi Goyal
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  2. Sharanjit Kaur
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  3. Neerja Jindal
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  4. Harpreet Kaur
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sharanjit Kaur.

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Goyal, L.D., Kaur, S., Jindal, N. et al. HCV and Pregnancy: Prevalence, Risk Factors, and Pregnancy Outcome in North Indian Population: A Case–Control Study. J Obstet Gynecol India 64, 332–336 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13224-014-0548-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13224-014-0548-x

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