The declining rates of hepatitis B carriage among adolescents and young people in the Eastern region of Saudi Arabia.

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 greater than 15 years of age and the lowest was seen among children less than 15 years of age. Over the period, the prevalence rate decreased in all age groups with the greatest decline among the age groups less than 4 years old. However, this was statistically insignificant (p greater than 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 greater than 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.