Investigation on the knowledge, attitude and practice of hepatitis B virus infection and mother-to-child transmission among pregnant women in Yunfu, Guangdong

Objective To investigate the awareness, attitudes and factors associated with hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection and mother-to-child transmission(MTCT) among pregnant women in Yunfu, Guangdong.

Methods Pregnant women who received Prenatal Health Care at Yunfu Maternal and Child Health Hospital were recruited as study subjects from August 2020 to December 2021. The survey focused on pregnant women's knowledge on prevention and treatment of HBV and their attitudes toward interventions of preventing HBV from MTCT. χ² test and multivariate logistic regression analysis were used to analyze factors associated with their knowledge and attitudes.

Results A total of 1 215 pregnant women were involved in. Their awareness of HBV prevention and treatment was poor, and the rate fluctuated from 24.12% to 80.16%. Generally, pregnant women were willing to receive intervention measures to prevent HBV from MTCT, and their acceptance level was high, ranging from 63.29% to 96.79%. The older the pregnant women were, the higher acceptance level of intervention strategy they had. Those who were urban residents, the first pregnancy and highly educated were more likely to have higher scores of knowledge of HBV prevention and treatment and attitudes toward accepting intervention measures(all P < 0.05). Logistic regression analysis showed that the age of pregnant women ≥30 years old, college degree or above are the promotion factors for pregnant women to accept intervention measures.

Conclusion Pregnant women lack of comprehensive understanding of HBV prevention and treatment and the intervention measures of preventing HBV from MTCT. Targeted health education should be improved among those < 30 and poorly educated.