A population based study on hepatitis B virus in northern iran, amol

Hossein Keyvani; Masoudreza Sohrabi; Farhad Zamani; Hossein Poustchi; Hossein Ashrafi; Fatemeh Saeedian; Mansooreh Mooadi; Nima Motamed; Hossein Ajdarkosh; Mahmoodreza Khonsari; Gholamreza Hemmasi; Mitra Ameli; Ali Kabir; Mahmoud Khodadost

doi:10.5812/hepatmon.20540

A population based study on hepatitis B virus in northern iran, amol

Hepat Mon. 2014 Aug 17;14(8):e20540. doi: 10.5812/hepatmon.20540. eCollection 2014 Aug.

Affiliations

¹ Department of Virology, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, IR Iran.
² Gastrointestinal and Liver Diseases Research Center (GILDRC), Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, IR Iran.
³ Liver and Pancreatobiliary Disease Research Center, Digestive Disease Research institute (DDRI), Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, IR Iran.
⁴ Department of Pathology, Kingston University, London, UK.
⁵ Department of Epidemiology, School of Publich Health, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, IR Iran.

Abstract

Background: Viral hepatitis is a major health problem worldwide. Change in transmission patterns of hepatitis B makes it necessary to re-evaluate its prevalence and risk factors.

Objectives: We aimed to determine the prevalence of HBV infection and its related risk factors in Amol city, Northern Iran.

Patients and methods: As a population based study, a cluster sampling approach was used and 6146 individuals from the general population of urban and rural areas of Amol, Iran, from both genders and different ages were enrolled. Inclusion criteria were willingness to participate in the study, being a lifelong resident in Amol city or its surrounding areas with Iranian nationality. Ten milliliters (10 mL) of blood was taken from each study subject and checked regarding hepatitis B markers including HbsAg, HBsAb and HBcAb using a third generation ELISA. The prevalence of HBV infections and its potential risk factors were recorded.

Results: The prevalence of HBsAg, HBsAb and HBcAb were estimated as 0.9%, 30.7% and 10.5%, respectively. The mean age of all participants was 43.9 (95% CI: 43.4, 44.3) in females and 55.6 in (n = 3472) males. In our study, there was a significant association between family history of hepatitis, rural residency and presence of HBsAg. There was also a positive correlation between HBcAb and family history of hepatitis, history of other types of hepatic diseases, history of tattooing, traditional phlebotomy, male gender and age. In backward logistic regression, a significant association was found between history of hepatitis in first-degree family members (OR = 13.35; 95% CI: 6.26, 28.47) and place of residence (OR = 2.32; 95% CI: 1.27, 4.22) with presence of HBsAg. There was also a positive correlation between history of hepatitis among first-degree family members (OR = 2.49; 95% CI: 1.52, 4.08), history of tattooing (OR = 2.13; 95% CI: 1.33, 3.42), history of previous hepatitis (OR = 1.87; 95% CI: 1.06, 3.28), male sex (OR = 1.36; 95% CI: 1.12, 1.66) and age (OR = 1.03; 95% CI: 1.03, 1.04) with presence of HBcAb.

Conclusions: The prevalence of hepatitis B in Amol City and its surrounding areas was about one percent, a lower rate than other reports from Iran.

Keywords: Epidemiology; HBsAg; Hepatitis B Virus; Infection; Prevalence.