Status of prevalence of hepatitis-B in pregnant women: A hospital based study

India has more than 37 million of HBV carriers and contributes a large proportion of the global burden. The perinatal route is the most important route of the transmission. This study was done to estimate the seroprevalence rate of HBV infection in female of reproductive age group. Since sexual and perinatal route transmission are major targets to prevent the infection, the study focused on pregnant females attending antenatal care (ANC) clinic of the hospital. This was a retrospective observational study to determine the prevalence of Hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) in Pregnant Women. Two and a half years retrospective study was performed from June 2019 to December 2021. The blood sample was collected as a part of routine screening for HBV infection and the samples were tested for HBsAg. Of the total 1353 antenatal women, 11 (0.81%) were positive for HBsAg in 2019. In the year 2020, of the total 4186 antenatal women, 43 (1.02%) were positive for HBsAg. In the year 2021, of the total 3903 antenatal women, 21 (0.53%) were positive for HBsAg. It is important to screen all the antenatal women for HBsAg to prevent maternal complications and, its transmission to the child and to manage appropriately.