Despite the increasing prevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in pregnant women, infants exposed to the disease are screened at a very low rate, Catherine A. Chappell, MD, and her associates wrote in Pediatrics.
During 2006-2014, 87,924 women gave birth at the Magee-Womens Hospital at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, of whom 1,043 had HCV. Over this time, the HCV prevalence rate increased 60%, from 1,026 cases per 100,000 women to 1,637 cases per 100,000 women. Women with HCV were more likely to be white, have Medicaid, have opiate use disorder, have other substance use disorders, and be under the age of 30 years.
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Infants born to HCV-infected women are significantly more likely to be preterm and of low birth weight.
An additional 32 infants who did not receive well child care did receive HCV testing. A total of nine infants, seven in the well child group and two in the non-well child group, tested positive for HCV.
“Of the infants tested with conclusive results, the HCV transmission rate was 8.4%, with 7.2% having chronic HCV infection,” which is in line with previous reports, according to the researchers.
“Because of the poor rates of pediatric HCV screening described, future researchers should focus on interventions to increase screening in infants who are at risk for perinatal HCV acquisition by including technology to improve the transfer of maternal HCV status to the pediatric record and increase pediatric provider awareness regarding HCV screening guidelines,” the investigators concluded.
SOURCE: Chappell CA et al. Pediatrics. 2018 May 2. doi: 10.1542/peds.2017-3273.