EPIDEMIOLOGICAL INSIGHTS INTO THE PREVALENCE OF HEPATITIS B AND ASSOCIATED RISK FACTORS AMONG COLLEGE POPULATIONS

Main Article Content

Syed Ayaz Kazmi
Abdul Rauf
Muhammad Zahid Latif
Sundus Khawaja
Tasleem Akhtar
Beenish Shahid
Iqra Batool
Nuzhat Shafi
Zeeshan Anjum
Humaira Abid
Mohsin Nazir Awan
Ejaz Ahmad Khan
Faisal Farooq

Keywords

Hepatitis B, hepatitis B prevalence, risk factors of HBV, hepatitis B among college population, hepatitis B in Azad Kashmir, hepatitis B in Pakistan, hepatitis B in students, epidemiology of hepatitis B

Abstract

Background: As the prevalence of hepatitis B continues to rise in Pakistan, our study focused on educational institutions in the state of Azad Kashmir due to the complete absence of data on this scenario concerning college populations. We aimed to assess the prevalence of hepatitis B and identify associated risk factors among the population of postgraduate colleges in Muzaffarabad city, situated in Pakistan-administered Kashmir.


Methods: In this cross-sectional study, rapid immuno-chromatographic tests and real-time quantitative PCR methods were used to identify hepatitis B infection, while serum ALT levels were tested to assess their diagnostic associations with the infection level. The evaluation of risk factors was conducted through interviews using a questionnaire, and the obtained data were subjected to statistical analysis.


Results: The study revealed 1.3% of participants positive for HBsAg, 0.6% tested positive for HBV, and 0.1% tested positive for HBeAg. Male participants were found to be more likely to test positive for HBsAg (odds ratio of 4.026, p=0.0074), and participants aged 30 years and above exhibited a higher prevalence (p<0.0001) for hepatitis B. The average ALT level in the HBsAg positive participants was significantly higher (p<0.0001). A significant association between HBsAg positivity and various factors including married status (p=0.0005), doing jobs (p=0.0004), getting cuts at hair salons or parlours (p<0.0001), hospitalization history (p<0.0001), blood transfusion (p<0.0001), and residence in hostels (p=0.0015) was observed. Only 0.4% participants were vaccinated against hepatitis B virus.


Conclusions: Our study revealed a significant prevalence of hepatitis B among postgraduate colleges in Muzaffarabad city, emphasizing the need for targeted awareness and prevention efforts. Identifying key risk factors such as blood transfusion, hospitalization, and residence in hostels underscores the importance of tailored initiatives. Considering the low vaccination rate, comprehensive actions, including routine screening, prioritized vaccination campaigns, and the implementation of multi-marker-based testing, are essential to mitigate the impact of hepatitis B.

Abstract 394 | pdf Downloads 135

References

1. Schweitzer A, Horn J, Mikolajczyk RT, Krause G, Ott JJ (2015) Estimations of worldwide prevalence of chronic hepatitis B virus infection: a systematic review of data published between 1965 and 2013. The Lancet 386(10003):1546-55.
2. World Health Organization, (2022) Hepatitis B (June, 2022) https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/hepatitis-b Accessed on 23 Nov, 2022.
3. Terrault NA, Lok AS, McMahon BJ, Chang KM, Hwang JP, Jonas MM, Brown Jr RS, Bzowej NH, Wong JB, (2018) Update on prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of chronic hepatitis B: AASLD 2018 hepatitis B guidance. Hepatology 67(4):1560-99.
4. Ali M, Idrees M, Ali L, Hussain A, Ur-Rehman I, Saleem S, Afzal S, Butt S, (2011) Hepatitis B virus in Pakistan: a systematic review of prevalence, risk factors, awareness status and genotypes. Virology journal 8:102. https://doi.org/10.1186/1743-422X-8-102
5. Hafsa T, Tanzila K, (2021) Molecular Prevalence and Causes of Hepatitis B Virus Infection in District Bannu Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Global Journal of Clinical Virology 6(1):001–006. https://doi.org/10.17352/gjcv.000008
6. Mehmood S, Raza H, Abid F, Saeed N, Rehman HM, Javed S, Khan MS, (2019) National Prevalence Rate of Hepatitis B and C in Pakistan and Its Risk Factors. Journal of Public Health 28:751-764. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10389-019-01081-5
7. Khan A, Afzal S, Yaqoob A, Fatima R, Ul Haq M, Junaid K, Nadir A, (2019) Epidemiology of viral hepatitis B and C in Punjab, Pakistan: a multicenter cross-sectional study, 2017-18. F1000-Research 8:2065. https://doi.org/10.12688/f1000research.20174.1
8. Samo AA, Laghari ZA, Baig NM, Khoso GM, (2020) Prevalence and Risk Factors Associated with Hepatitis B and C in Nawabshah, Sindh, Pakistan. The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 104(3):1101–1105. https://doi.org/10.4269/ajtmh.20-1228
9. Abbasi IN, Fatmi Z, Kadir MM, Sathiakumar N, (2014) Prevalence of hepatitis B virus infection among barbers and their knowledge, attitude and practices in the district of Sukkur, Sindh. Int. J. Occup. Med. Environ. Health 27:757–765.
10. Pirani S, Ali TS, Allana S, Ismail FW, (2016) Awareness about hepatitis C among patients suffering from hepatitis C in Karachi, Pakistan. Pak. J. Med. Res. 55(3):70-74.
11. Tesfa T, Hawulte B, Tolera A, Abate D, (2021) Hepatitis B virus infection and associated risk factors among medical students in eastern Ethiopia. PloS one 16(2):e0247267. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0247267
12. Tula M, Iyoha OA, (2015) Cross-sectional Study on the Sero-prevalence of Hepatitis B Surface Antigen (HBsAg) among Apparently Healthy Students of a Tertiary Institution in North-Eastern Nigeria. Int. J. Trop. Dis. Health 7(3):102–8.
13. Medani KE, Al-Fehaid F, Abdalla SM, Bashir AA, Al-Mansour M, Yousif E, (2015) The prevalence of hepatitis B among medical students, Majmaah University, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Int. J. Pharm. Med. Res. 3:191-4.
14. Ekouevi D, Thomas A, Sewu D, Lawson-Ananissoh L, Tchounga B, Salou M, Ketoh G, David M, Coffie P, Redah D, (2017) Prevalence of Hepatitis B among Students from the University of Lomé, Togo in 2015. Open Journal of Epidemiology 7:262-272.
15. Tawiah PA, Abaka-Yawson A, Effah ES, Arhin-Wiredu K, Oppong K, (2022) Prevalence and risk factors of hepatitis B virus infection among medical laboratory science students in a Ghanaian tertiary institution. Journal of Health Research 36(3):442-452.
16. Rauf A, Nadeem MS, Arshad M, Riaz H, Latif MM, Iqbal M, Latif MZ, Nisar A, Shakoori AR, (2013) Prevalence of hepatitis B and C virus in the general population of Hill Surang area, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan. Pak. J. Zool. 45:543–548.
17. Baha W, Foullous A, Dersi N, They-they TP, El-Alaoui K, Nourichafi N, Oukkache B, Lazar F, Benjelloun S, Ennaji MM, Elmalki A, Mifdal H, Bennani A. (2013) Prevalence and risk factors of hepatitis B and C virus infections among the general population and blood donors in Morocco. BMC public health 13:50. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-13-50.
18. Méndez-Sánchez N, Motola-Kuba D, Zamora-Valdés D, Sánchez-Lara K, Ponciano-Rodríguez G, Uribe-Ramos MH, Vásquez-Fernández F, Lezama-Mora J, Pérez-Sosa JA, Baptista-González HA, Uribe M, (2006) Risk factors and prevalence of hepatitis virus B and C serum markers among nurses at a tertiary-care hospital in Mexico City, Mexico: a descriptive study. Annals of Hepatology 5(4):276–280. https://doi.org/10.1016/s1665-2681(19)31988-x
19. Wang H, Men P, Xiao Y, Gao P, Lv M, Yuan Q, Chen W, Bai S, Wu J, (2019) Hepatitis B infection in the general population of China: a systematic review and meta-analysis. BMC Infect Dis 19(1):811. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12879-019-4428-y
20. Balaeva T, Grjibovski AM, Samodova O, Sannikov A, Klouman E, (2018) Seroprevalence of Markers of Hepatitis B Virus Infection, Associated Factors, and Vaccination Status in Young Adults in Arkhangelsk, Northwest Russia: A Population-Based Cross-Sectional Study. International journal of environmental research and public health 15(9):1905. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15091905
21. Shadaker S, Sood A, Averhoff F, Suryaprasad A, Kanchi S, Midha V, Kamili S, Nasrullah M, Trickey A, Garg R, Mittal P, Sharma SK, Vickerman P, Armstrong PA, (2022) Hepatitis B Prevalence and Risk Factors in Punjab, India: A Population-Based Serosurvey. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hepatology 12(5):1310–1319. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jceh.2022.04.014
22. Ullah N, Khan I, Kakakhel MA, Xi L, Bai Y, Kalra BS, Guanlan L, Kumar T, Shah M, Zhang C, (2022) Serological prevalence of hepatitis B virus (HBV) in Mardan district, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Brazilian Journal of Biology 82. https://doi.org/10.1590/1519-6984.245813
23. Nazish B, Naeem M, Muhammad SA, Zaheer HS, Irfan M, Muhammad A, Waseem H, Abid AK, Asif S, Mobushir RK, Sheikh SA, Shahid A, Muhammad N, Haroon A, (2016) Sero-prevalence of Hepatitis B and C Virus from rural areas of northern Punjab (Sargodha District), Pakistan. Tropical Biomedicine 33(4):599–607.
24. Li X, Yingjun Z, Adrian L, Biao C, Dongqing Y, Feng H, Xiaorong S, Fuyang G, Liu X, Shun L, Li, J, (2012) Hepatitis B virus infections and risk factors among the general population in Anhui Province, China: An epidemiological study. BMC Public Health 12:272.
25. Hou F, Qi X, Zhang Y, Yoshida EM, Mendez-Sanchez N, Tacke F, Yang SS, Yuen MF, Romeiro FG, Mancuso A, Liu CJ, Zhang X, Wang R, Deng H, Li J, Wang X, Li H, Guo X, (2017) Association of hepatitis B e antigen and DNA viral load with severity of liver dysfunction and in-hospital outcomes in hepatitis B-related liver cirrhosis. AME Medical Journal 2:145–145. https://doi.org/10.21037/amj.2017.09.10
26. Belopolskaya M, Avrutin V, Firsov S, Yakovlev A, (2015) HBsAg level and hepatitis B viral load correlation with focus on pregnancy. Annals of gastroenterology 28(3):379–384.
27. Pido B, Kagimu M, (2005) Prevalence of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection among Makerere University medical students. Afr. Health Sci 5:93–98.

Most read articles by the same author(s)