Introduction and objectives

Universal vaccination at birth and in infancy is key to the elimination of chronic hepatitis B infection. We aimed to assess hepatitis B immune-prophylaxis and perinatal transmission knowledge, in a large and ethnically diverse cohort of previously pregnant North American women, chronically infected with hepatitis B.

Materials and methods

The Hepatitis B Research Network (HBRN) is comprised of 28 Clinical Centers in the United States and Canada. Female cohort participants were administered a questionnaire to assess: (1) their assertion of knowledge regarding HBV prophylaxis at birth, testing, and diagnosis of hepatitis B in their children, and (2) the percentage of affirmative to negative responses for each of the HBV-related interventions her child may have received. The relationship between asserted knowledge, actions taken and maternal demographics were assessed.

Results

A total of 351 mothers with 627 children born in or after 1992 were included. Median age at enrollment was 39.8 years. Mothers were mostly foreign-born with the largest percentage from Asia (73.4%) and Africa (11.7%). Of the 627 children, 94.5% had mothers who asserted that they knew whether their child had received HBIG or HBV vaccine at birth, for 88.8% of the children, their mothers indicated that they knew if their child was tested for HBV and for 84.5% of children, their mothers knew if the child was diagnosed with HBV infection. Among children whose mothers asserted knowledge of their HBV management, 95.3% were reported to have received HBIG or HBV vaccine, 83.4% of children were said to have been tested for HBV, and 4.8% of children were said to have been diagnosed with HBV. Younger maternal age was the only factor significantly associated with higher percentage of children for whom mothers reported knowledge of testing (p = 0.02) or diagnosis of HBV (p = 0.02).

Conclusions

While high percentages of North American children had mothers asserting knowledge of HBV prophylaxis and testing, knowledge gaps remain, with mothers of 5.5–15.5% of children lacking knowledge of key components of the HBV prevention and diagnosis in the perinatal setting. Targeted education of HBsAg-positive mothers may aid in closing this gap and reducing vertical transmission.

中文翻译：

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母亲对垂直传播和后代感染乙型肝炎风险的了解。

简介和目标

出生时和婴儿期普遍接种疫苗是消除慢性乙型肝炎感染的关键。我们的目的是在一大群不同种族、曾怀孕且长期感染乙型肝炎的北美女性中评估乙型肝炎免疫预防和围产期传播知识。

 材料和方法

乙型肝炎研究网络 (HBRN) 由美国和加拿大的 28 个临床中心组成。女性队列参与者接受了一份调查问卷，以评估：（1）她们对出生时乙型肝炎预防、子女乙型肝炎检测和诊断的知识主张，以及（2）每种乙型肝炎的肯定反应与阴性反应的百分比她的孩子可能接受过的相关干预措施。评估了所声称的知识、所采取的行动和孕产妇人口统计数据之间的关系。

 结果

共有 351 名母亲和 1992 年及之后出生的 627 名孩子被纳入其中。入学时的中位年龄为 39.8 岁。母亲大多是在外国出生的，其中来自亚洲（73.4%）和非洲（11.7%）的比例最大。在 627 名儿童中，94.5% 的母亲声称知道自己的孩子出生时是否接种了 HBIG 或 HBV 疫苗，88.8% 的孩子的母亲表示知道自己的孩子是否接受过 HBV 检测，84.5% 的母亲表示知道孩子是否接受过 HBV 检测。对于儿童来说，他们的母亲知道孩子是否被诊断出患有乙型肝炎病毒感染。在母亲声称了解 HBV 管理知识的儿童中，95.3% 的儿童接受过 HBIG 或 HBV 疫苗，83.4% 的儿童据说接受过 HBV 检测，4.8% 的儿童据说被诊断患有 HBV。母亲年龄较小是与母亲报告乙肝检测知识 ( p = 0.02) 或诊断知识 ( p = 0.02) 的儿童比例较高显着相关的唯一因素。

 结论

尽管北美儿童的母亲声称了解 HBV 预防和检测知识，但知识差距依然存在，5.5-15.5% 儿童的母亲缺乏围产期 HBV 预防和诊断关键组成部分的知识。对 HBsAg 阳性母亲进行有针对性的教育可能有助于缩小这一差距并减少垂直传播。