1. The prevalence of hepatitis B antigen-positivity in the general population of Mashhad, Iran.
- Author
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Fathimoghaddam, Farhad, Hedayati-Moghaddam, Mohammad Reza, Bid-khori, Hamid Reza, Ahmadi, Sanaz, and Sima, Hamid Reza
- Subjects
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AGE distribution , *ANALYSIS of variance , *ANTIGENS , *BLOOD testing , *CHI-squared test , *CLUSTER analysis (Statistics) , *CONFIDENCE intervals , *ENZYME-linked immunosorbent assay , *HEPATITIS B , *MARITAL status , *RESEARCH , *RESEARCH funding , *STATISTICAL sampling , *STATISTICS , *LOGISTIC regression analysis , *CROSS-sectional method , *SEROPREVALENCE - Abstract
Background: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a significant health problem throughout the world. Objectives: We aimed to evaluate the prevalence of hepatitis B antigen (HBsAg) seropositivity in the general population of Mashhad, northeast of Iran. Patients and Methods: One thousand six hundred fifty-two healthy individuals aged 1 to 90 (Mean; 29.1 ± 18.5) from all 12 municipalities of Mashad were selected randomly by multistage cluster sampling. Informed consent was obtained, and demographics and medical histories were collected. Twice-reactive samples were considered HBsAgpositive by ELISA. Chi-square test and logistic regression were applied to analyze the factors related to HBsAg positivity using SPSS 16.0. Results: The overall prevalence of HBsAg positivity was 1.39% (95% CI, 0.91% to 2.12%); 2.0% and 0.89% among men and women, respectively (p = 0.054). Infection was more prevalent in older (p = 0.019) and married persons (p = 0.001), Afghanis (p = 0.046), and those with a history of traditional cupping (p = 0.005). There was no association between HBV infection and gender; literacy; income; employment; family size; or history of blood transfusion, dental procedure, surgery, hospitalization, or tattooing. By logistic regression analysis, age was the only variable that had a significant association with infection (p = 0.026). Conclusion: It seems that the prevalence of HBV infection in Mashhad is slightly lower than that of the nation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2011