PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Al-Jubran, Khalid. M.
AU  - Al-Dossary, Mohamed. A.
AU  - Elsafi, Salah H.
TI  - The declining rates of hepatitis B carriage among adolescents and young people in the Eastern region of Saudi Arabia
AID  - 10.15537/smj.2016.8.14494
DP  - 2016 Aug 01
TA  - Saudi Medical Journal
PG  - 864--870
VI  - 37
IP  - 8
4099  - http://smj.org.sa/content/37/8/864.short
4100  - http://smj.org.sa/content/37/8/864.full
SO  - Saudi Med J2016 Aug 01; 37
AB  - Objectives: To study age specific rates of hepatitis B virus (HBV) carriage in the eastern region of Saudi Arabia following a 24 year immunization program.Methods: Hepatitis B surveillance data between January 2004 and December 2013 were analyzed in a retrospective study, which included 24,504,914 patients. Seropositive cases of hepatitis B were reported by laboratory personnel as part of various investigations. Hepatitis B cases including acute and chronic carriers were identified upon serological positivity of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg).Results: The study shows that the overall prevalence rate decreased from 18.8 to 9.9/100,000 population between 2004 and 2013 (p=0.01). It was also found that the prevalence rate increased with age. For instance, the highest prevalence of hepatitis B was seen among patients &amp;gt;15 years of age and the lowest was seen among children &amp;lt;15 years of age. Over the period, the prevalence rate decreased in all age groups with the greatest decline among the age groups &amp;lt;4 years old. However, this was statistically insignificant (p&amp;gt;0.05). Another significant reduction in the prevalence rate occurred among age groups 5-14 years old (p=0.00). An insignificant decrease in the rate by 43% was also seen among older patients of 15-44 years old and 35% in &amp;gt;45 years old. The overall prevalence of hepatitis B is significantly higher in men than in women (p=0.00).Conclusion: There is a particular decreased trend in the prevalence of HBV infection in different age groups over a decade of surveillance following more than 20 years of the universal HBV vaccination program.