Maternal Hepatitis B Virus or Hepatitis C Virus Carrier Status and Long-Term Endocrine Morbidity of the Offspring-A Population-Based Cohort Study

This study aimed to investigate the long-term effect of maternal hepatitis B virus (HBV) or hepatitis C virus (HCV) carrier status on offspring endocrine morbidity. A population-based cohort study included all singleton deliveries between the years 1991–2014 at the Soroka University Medical Center, Beer-Sheva, Southern Israel. The mothers were subdivided into three groups, HBV carriers, HCV carriers and non-carriers. Data regarding the long-term endocrine morbidity of their offspring were compared between the groups. The study included 242,905 (99.7%) non-carrying mothers, 591 (0.2%) mothers who were carriers for HBV and 186 (0.1%) mothers who were carriers for HCV. The Kaplan–Meier’s survival curve demonstrated a significantly higher cumulative endocrine morbidity in children born to mothers with HCV (log-rank test, p = 0.002). Specifically, higher rates of hypoglycemia were noted among the offspring born to mothers who were carriers of HCV (1.1%; p = 0.001) compared with the offspring of mothers who were either carriers of HBV (0.2%) or non-carriers (0.1%). A Cox regression model controlled for maternal age, gestational age, maternal diabetes, hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, found maternal HCV carrier status to be independently associated with pediatric endocrine morbidity in the offspring (adjusted hazard ratio = 5.05, 95% CI: 1.625–15.695, p = 0.005). Maternal HCV carrier status is an independent risk factor for long-term endocrine morbidity.