Prevalence Of Hepatitis B Virus Surface Antigen Among Hospital Patients In Jashore City, Bangladesh, 2017-2018

BackgroundDespite having a huge public health burden, Bangladesh lacks recent national surveillance studies on HBV prevalence and epidemiology. The objective of this study was to understand the epidemiology of HBV infection among the visitors of hospitals in the Jashore region of Bangladesh. MethodsA retrospective type of descriptive study has been conducted among 555 patients from October 2017 to August 2018 in Jashore, Bangladesh. ResultsThe overall prevalence of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) seropositivity was 11% in the total sample population. The number of HBV-infected individuals was greater among males compared to females (15% vs 9%, P-value =0.018). The study found that HBV infection was more prevalent among unmarried individuals (15%) compared to those who were single (10%). Participants age ranging from 29-33 years showed highest HBV prevalence (P-value 0.007). After stratifying by sex, only male patients showed significant difference of blood group (P-value 0.019) and age (P-value 0.001) associated with HBV prevalence. Months of sample collection did not show any significant association with HBV prevalence. ConclusionOur study revealed a higher prevalence of active HBV infection among hospital visitors in Jashore City, especially among males, and those in the younger adult age groups.