A team, led by Songqing Deng, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, evaluated the relationship between maternal HCV viral load and HIV co-infection and the risk of mother-to-child transmission among pregnant women. that were infected. with HCV.
The study
In the study, the researchers searched various databases from the beginning to June 21, 2022 that reported the incidence of mother-to-child transmission of HCV. They calculated pooled effect estimates using the random-effects model and the Holm-Bonferroni correction for multiple pooled correlations.
Unions
The final analysis included 26 studies involving 4934 neonates with maternal HCV infections. The researchers found that pregnant women with HCV viremia had an increased risk of mother-to-child transmission (OR, 8.25, 95% CI, 4.65-14.63) compared with those who were negative for HCV-RNA. After performing multiple subgroup analysis, the researchers found that the HCV viremia/HIV positive group had a higher risk of mother-to-child transmission of HCV, followed by the HCV monoinfected group. On the other hand, HCV-RNA negative women showed the lowest risk of mother-to-child transmission of HCV. For female patients with HCV viremia, an increased risk of mother-to-child transmission was found among those with a viral load ≥6 log10 copies/ml compared with those with a viral load < 6 log10 copies/ml (OR, 4.58, 95% CI, 2.52–8.34). “The incidence of HCV MTCT was increased among pregnant women with detectable HCV viremia and was even higher in those with a viral load ≥6 log10 copies/ml,” the authors wrote. “HIV co-infection further increased the risk for HCV MTCT”. Recently, a new analysis of pregnant women in India shows mainly vertical transmission of hepatitis B virus (HBV). A team, led by Suprabhat Giri, Department of Gastroenterology, Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences, determined the pooled HBV seroprevalence and associated demographic factors. HBV infections during pregnancy can often lead to perinatal transmission of the virus, contributing to the reservoir of HBV infections in the population. However, there is wide variation in the data reported on HBV seroprevalence in pregnant patients from different regions of India. The pooled prevalence of hepatitis B e antigen was 26.0% (95% CI, 17.4-34.7) among HBsAg-positive patients. However, the researchers found no significant differences in the odds of HBV seroprevalence based on age (<25 ετών έναντι > 25 years) (OR, 1.07; 95% CI, 0.74–1.55), parity (primipara vs. multipara) (OR, 1.09; 95% CI, 0.70–1.70) or area of residence (urban vs. rural) (OR, 0.88; 95% CI, 0.56–1.39). On the other hand, the odds of HBV seroprevalence in participants with no or primary education were higher than those with secondary education or higher (OR, 2.29, 95% CI, 1.24–4.23). The researchers also found that a previous historical risk factor was identified in 13.5-22.7% of patients, suggesting a vertical mode of acquisition. The study, “Hepatitis C viral load and mother-to-child transmission: a systematic review and meta-analysis,” was published online in the Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology.
