Vietnamese community screening for hepatitis B virus and hepatitis C virus

[Guest guest]

J Viral Hepat. 2010 Feb 25. [Epub ahead of print]Vietnamese community screening

for hepatitis B virus and hepatitis C virus.Kallman JB, Tran S, Arsalla A,

Haddad D, Stepanova M, Fang Y, Wrobel VJ, Srishord M, Younossi ZM.Center for

Liver Diseases, Inova Fairfax Hospital, Betty and Guy Beatty Center for

Integrated Research, Falls Church, VA, USA.Summary. Asian Americans represent an

important cohort at high risk for viral hepatitis. To determine the prevalence

of Hepatitis B virus (HBV) and Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and HBV

vaccination in a Vietnamese community, a total of 322 Vietnamese subjects from a

local doctor's office and annual Vietnamese Health Fair were included in this

study. Demographic and clinical data were collected. 2.2% of the screened cohort

tested positive for anti-HCV and 9.3% tested positive for HBsAg. Unlike

HBV-positive subjects, HCV-positive subjects had significantly higher liver

enzymes (P = 0.0045 and P = 0.0332, respectively). The HBV-positive group was

more likely to report jaundice (P = 0.0138) and a family history of HBV (P =

0.0115) compared to HBV-negative subjects. Forty-eight patients (15.5%) reported

a family history of liver disease (HBV, HCV, HCC, cirrhosis, other). Of this 48,

68.8% reported no personal history of HBV vaccination and 77.1% reported no

family history of vaccination for HBV. Among the 183 subjects without a family

history of liver disease, 156 (85.2%) reported no personal history of

vaccination and 168 (91.8%) reported no family history of vaccination. HBV

vaccination rates in those reporting a family history of liver disease were

significantly higher (P = 0.020). There was a high prevalence of HBV infection

in this community screening. Nevertheless, the rate for HBV vaccination was low.

The low prevalence of abnormal liver enzymes in HBV-positive subjects emphasizes

the need for screening to be triggered by risk factors and not by abnormal liver

enzymes.PMID: 20196807 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]