Su WJ, et al. - The universal infant hepatitis B virus (HBV) vaccination program was investigated for its impact on the long-term hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) rate in pregnant women. The program led to the birth cohort effect that has effectively reduced the HBV carrier rate in pregnant women and the burden of perinatal HBV infection on the next generation.

Methods

• A 32-year period of cross-sectional data on a maternal HBsAg and hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) screening program launched in July 1984 was analyzed using the National Immunization Information System.
• Researchers applied an age-period-cohort model analysis of 940,180 pregnant women screened for July 1996–June 1997, and years 2001, 2006, 2011, and 2016.

Results

• Researchers observed a decrease in annual HBsAg and HBeAg seropositive rates from 13.4% and 6.4%, respectively, for the period 1984–1985 to 5.9% and 1.0% in 2016 (p for both trends < 0.0001).
• They observed the lowest risk (0.27, 95% CI 0.26–0.28) of HBsAg positivity among pregnant women with birth years after July 1986 (the HBV vaccination cohort) compared with birth years before June 1984.