Prevalence and Assessment of Associated Risk Factors of Hepatitis B and C Infections in Low-Socioeconomic Communities

Abstract

Aim: This study determined the prevalence and risk factors associated with hepatitis B and C among the low-socioeconomic population. Materials & methods: A total of 1004 participants were screened for hepatitis B/C infection and risk factors from six different localities of Islamabad, Pakistan Results: The prevalence rate of hepatitis B and C was 1 and 4%, respectively. Chi-square test showed hepatitis B/C infection was related with marital status, hepatitis B vaccination, blood recipients and family income. Multivariable analysis showed hepatitis B vaccination, exposure to therapeutic injections, dental visits, exposure to HCV patients and age of participants were independently associated with hepatitis C infection. Conclusion: The risk of hepatitis B/C infection is multifactorial and the population needs to be vaccinated at a larger scale to avoid outbreaks.

Keywords:

• blood recipients
• dental visits
• hepatitis B
• hepatitis C
• low-socioeconomic status
• needle injury
• Pakistan
• prevalence
• risk factors
• vaccine

Author contributions

This work was designed, conducted and written by A Noreen and F Adnan. N Alam, Z Syed, A Aftab and F Shamim helped in virus sequence analysis via various web tools and evaluated the manuscript. S Najeebullah, SJ Kakar and T Ahmed helped in statistical analysis and final editing of the manuscript.

Acknowledgments

The authors are very thankful to the Islamabad lab and research center for helping us in testing the samples.

Financial & competing interests disclosure

This project was funded by the student research fund of the National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), Islamabad. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.

Ethical conduct of research

The proforma used was approved by the IRB committee at ASAB, NUST. Participants were well informed about the research work and the information to be published later.