(506) The Association Between Hepatitis B Virus Infection During Pregnancy and Risk of Infant Death

Objective: To investigate the association between Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) status and the likelihood of infant death.

Study Design: This retrospective cohort study used data from the National Center for Health Statistics Vital Statistics database. The cohort linked birth and infant death data files from 2015 to 2021 that were used for this study. The study included all births in the United States during the study period with known HBV status. The outcome of interest was infant death. Univariate analysis was performed to determine the association between HBV and infant death. Multivariate logistic regression was then performed to estimate the effect of HBV status on infant death adjusting for potential confounding variables. Interaction analysis was then performed to determine if the effect of HBV on infant death is modified by race and obesity.

Results: Of the 26,456,956 women, 56,299 (0.21%) were identified with HBV infection. HBV infection was associated with higher but not statically significant rate of infant mortality (0.52% vs 0.49%, p=0.757; aOR 0.98 [0.87-1.10]). Compared to White, both Black and Asian races demonstrated a protective effect on infant mortality among individuals with HBV infection (aOR 0.55; 95% CI [0.39 - 0.77] and aOR 0.54; 95% CI [0.37 - 0.78]).

Conclusion: HBV infection is not significantly associated with an increased risk of infant death, however other risk factors may modify this outcome.