Prevalence of hepatitis B and C in pregnant women who are infected with human immunodeficiency virus

Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of hepatitis B and hepatitis C virus co-infection among pregnant women who are infected by human immunodeficiency virus and who attend an obstetric complications prenatal clinic. Study design: A de-identified research obstetric human immunodeficiency virus database was reviewed regarding patient demographic characteristics, risk factors for infection, history of sexually transmitted diseases, and initial CD4 count. Results: Four hundred fifty-five women who are infected with human immunodeficiency virus with 572 pregnancies were delivered over 11 years. The overall prevalence of human immunodeficiency virus and hepatitis B or C virus co-infection in our population was 6.3%. More specifically, 1.5% was co-infected with hepatitis B virus, and 4.9% was co-infected with hepatitis C virus. Patients with hepatitis virus were more likely to use intravenous drugs (52% vs 18%; P < .01) and alcohol (38% vs 5%; P < .01). Co-infected patients were older (28 vs 25.6 years; P = .04), but there were no racial differences. Median baseline CD4 counts in hepatitis B virus co-infected patients were significantly lower (310 cells/mm³) than those in either hepatitis C virus co-infected patients (453 cells/mm ³) or patients who were not co-infected with human immunodeficiency virus (414 cells/mm³). Conclusion: One of 16 pregnant women who were infected with human immunodeficiency virus was co-infected with hepatitis B or hepatitis C virus. Hepatitis B co-infections appear to be associated with more compromised immune status in our cohort.