Fetomaternal Outcome in Pregnant Women with Acute Hepatitis E

Abstract

Hepatitis E is fairly common among pregnant population and puts a threat to mother and fetal wellbeing. Only limited research is available on association of Hepatitis E infection in pregnancy with feto-maternal outcome. The purpose of the current study was to investigate such patients while carefully eliminating bias by controlling confounders. We aimed to determine the feto-maternal outcome in pregnant women with acute hepatitis E. A descriptive case series was conducted to find feto-maternal outcome in pregnant women with acute hepatitis E. The mean maternal age was 30.05±4.49 years ad mean Gestational age of the patients was 35.73±2.10 months. Most (47%) of the patients were para 3 followed by para 2 (31.8%). 78.8% of the mothers underwent caesarean delivery. Most of the patients had Preterm delivery (69.7%). 16 (24.2%) patients died while majority (75.8%) of the patients survived for more than 30 days after delivery. Most of the mothers (50.0%) died during first 10 days of delivery. 28.8% of patients suffered fetal loss while majority (71.2%) of the neonates survived for more than 7 days. Majority (78.9%) of those who expired died in utero while only a smaller percentage (21.1%) expired in neonatal period. Hepatitis E infection in pregnancy is associated with poor feto-maternal outcome. Careful monitoring and early intervention in the form of caesarean delivery can improve the outcome.