A PROSPECTIVE STUDY OF MATERNAL AND FETAL OUTCOME OF VIRAL HEPATITIS IN PREGNANCY (original) (raw)

This study was conducted to evaluate the causes ,clinical course & feto-maternal outcome and prognostic factors affecting the outcome in cases of viral hepatitis in pregnancy. Methods: Sixty-one pregnant women reporting to the hospital with hepatitis during the study period of 2 years from January 2015 to December 2016 were enrolled as cases and their haematological, biochemical and viral profiles were studied. A comparison was done between the survivors and non-survivors and factors predicting mortality were studied . The unpaired student t test and fischre exact test were used to find out whether the differences were statistically significant. Results: Most of the patients were primigravida (51 %) and were in the third trimester of pregnancy(82%).Viral Hepatitis in pregnancy caused a very high maternal mortality (18%). Hepatitis E virus was the commonest causative organism (55%) responsible for viral hepatitis during pregnancy. It also caused the highest maternal mortality due to fulminant hepatic failure. Maternal mortality was significantly higher in those women presenting with features of encephalopathy, high bilirubin levels, high liver enzymes and prolonged prothrombin time. Conclusions: Hepatitis E is the chief causative organism causing fulminant hepatic failure in pregnant women.