Xu C, Bao Y, Zuo J, et al. - Findings revealed independent correlations of different maternal clinical states of chronic HBV infection with an elevated risk of overall preterm birth (PTB) and its subtypes (spontaneous and iatrogenic).

• A retrospective cohort study performed among 57,386 pregnant women; the final study cohort included 54,245 pregnancies, among which 2,151(4.0%) pregnant women were HBsAg positive.

• HBV-infected women had a 33% higher risk of overall PTB, a 27% higher risk of spontaneous PTB and a 50% higher risk of iatrogenic PTB.

• A 47% higher risk of overall PTB, a 2.03 times higher risk of spontaneous PTB and a 32% higher risk of iatrogenic PTB were recorded for women who were both HBsAg and HBeAg positive.

• A 3.84 times higher risk of overall PTB, a 3.88 times higher risk of spontaneous PTB and a 3.01 times higher risk of iatrogenic PTB were recorded for women with chronic active hepatitis.