— Christine M. Kukka, Project Manager, HBV Advocate
Chinese researchers compared the rates of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in infants born to HBV-infected women who underwent amniocentesis to women who did not and found that the procedure increased HBV infection in infants.
Amniocentesis is the sampling of amniotic fluid using a hollow needle inserted into the uterus. The fluid is used to screen for developmental abnormalities in a fetus.
According to the report published in the November 2013 Journal of Hepatology, researchers found that women with high viral loads who underwent the procedure had higher rates of infecting their infants (6.35%) than those who did not (2.53%).
The scientists compared infection rates in 63 infants whose mothers had amniocentesis against 198 infants whose mothers did not. However, when the mothers' viral loads were moderate, amniocentesis did not increase mother-to-child (vertical) infection rates. Significant increases in vertical infection occurred only when women had high viral loads, greater than about 7 million copies per milliliter.
"Hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg-positive) women who plan to have amniocentesis should be evaluated for the risk of vertical transmission and (assessed) according to their HBV DNA levels," researchers wrote. They called for more studies to be performed to confirm their findings.
