Objective To discuss the newborn's immune-prophylaxis and long-term protection effects when their mothers were infected with hepatitis B virus (HBV).

Methods A total of 240 HBV-infected pregnant women (240 newborns) taking the antenatal care and delivered between January 2013 and December 2014 were selected as research subjects. Totally, 120 pregnant women and newborns taking the prevention measures were included as the observation group; 120 pregnant women and newborns without taking the prevention measures were included as the control group. The HBV infection rate and hepatitis B surface antibody (HBsAb) positive rate at birth and one year after birth were compared between the two groups. After 5 years of follow-up, according to the effect of neonatal immunization, mothers were divided into success group and failure group.

Results HBV infection rate in newborns of the observation group (0%) was significantly lower than that in newborns of the control group (16.67%, P < 0.05). At birth and 1 year after birth, HBsAb positive rates in newborns of the observation group was significantly higher than those in newborns of the control group (22.50% vs 5.00% and 96.67% vs 78.33% respectively, P < 0.05); within 5 year of birth, the rate of inoculating hepatitis B vaccine in the observation group (26.67%) was significantly lower than that in the control group (55.00%, P < 0.05). Mother's serum hepatitis B virus e-antigen (HBeAg) titer, HBV-DNA concentrations, antiviral drug dosage and virus variation were closely correlated with immune-prophylaxis effects in newborns.

Conclusions For HBV-infected pregnant women and newborns, hepatitis B immunoglobulin (HBIg) and hepatitis B vaccine injection meanwhile can prevent mother-to-child transmission, and reduce HBV infection risks and increase positive rate of HBsAb, then produce the long-term immune-prophylaxis effects in newborns.