A population-based study on the seroprevalence of viral hepatitis in Hong Kong, China

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Viral hepatitis remains a major health burden in the Asia-Pacific region. Reliable virus prevalence data influencing countrywide health policies can only be obtained by population-based study which requires intensive efforts to conduct. We aimed to document the territorial seroprevalence of viral hepatitis A to E in Hong Kong. METHODS: Questionnaires containing demographics, family history of hepatitis infection, previous hepatitis vaccination and risks of hepatitis exposure are collected in different townships over Hong Kong. Sera are tested for antibodies to HAV, HCV and HEV, hepatitis B panel including HBsAg, HBeAg, anti-HBs and anti-HBc and anti-HDV for HBsAg positive subjects. RESULTS: We aim to recruit 10,000 subjects. Since study commencement in February 2015, a total of 4371 subjects (M:F, 32 vs. 68 %) were recruited. Mean age were comparable in both gender (male 53.0 ± 14.6 vs female 53.6 ± 14.1). Interim analysis of overall seroprevalence data of 4371 subjects were shown in figure 1. Significantly more patients are anti-HAV and anti-HEV positive in older age groups when compared to younger age groups (p\0.001) as shown in Figure 1. Among 3983 HBsAg-negative subjects, 1593 subjects (59.9 %) were positive for anti-HBc, with statistically higher proportion of anti-HBc positivity in older age groups (p\0.001) as shown in Figure 2. CONCLUSIONS: Prevalence of HBV remained high. More than half of the HBsAg negative population had HBV exposure evidenced by anti-HBc positivity. Anti-HAV and anti-HEV were significantly higher in older age groups More than 85 and 40 % of patients older than 55 years had positive anti-HAV and anti-HEV respectively.