Seroprevalence of HBV Infection and Its Risk Factors in the West of Iran: A Population-based study

Introduction: hepatitis b virus (hbv) infection is a seriousglobal public health problem affecting billions of people globally.the lack of information of its seroprevalence among the generalpopulation is an obstacle for formulating effective policies toreduce the burden viral hepatitis. therefore, this population basedserological survey was conducted in kurdistan province, where noepidemiological data was available to determine the prevalence andrisk factors of hbv infection.methods: 1613 healthy subjects were selected from all districts ofkurdistan province (in the western of iran) using random clustersampling. the subjects’ age ranged from 6 to 65 years old. serumsamples were tested for hbcab, hbsag and anti?hdv antibody.screening tests were carried out by the third generation of elisa.various risk factors were recorded and multivariate analysis wasperformed.results: the prevalence of hbsag and hbcab in kurdistan wasbefore 0.80% (95% ci 0.44; 1.34) and 5.02% (95% ci 4.03; 6.17),respectively. none of hbsag carriers had positive anti?hdvantibody. predictors of hbsag or hbcab in multivariate analysiswere: older age and marriage. we did not find any significantdifferences between males and females.conclusion: our population based study suggests that intrafamilialhbv transmission plays a major role in hbv transmission inkurdistan province. furthermore, approximately 5% of generalpopulation in this province has prior exposure to hbv and lessthan 1% is hbsag carriers. however, we could not find any caseof hdv infection among them.