Abstract

OLMEDO, Gladys Beatriz et al. Seroreactivity against the hepatitis B virus surface antigen in women who attended the Central Public Health Laboratory. Asunción, Paraguay. Mem. Inst. Investig. Cienc. Salud [online]. 2015, vol.13, n.3, pp.96-102. ISSN 1812-9528.  https://doi.org/10.18004/Mem.iics/1812-9528/2015.013(03)96-102.

Hepatitis B is a serious public health problem worldwide; approximately about 2 billion people have serologic evidence of infection with hepatitis B virus. The aim of this analytic cross-sectional study was to describe the frequency of hepatitis B and identify risk factors in women of childbearing age who attended the Central Public Health Laboratory in the period 2013 to 2014. Prior informed consent, antigen detection of hepatitis B surface was performed by ELISA in women between 15 and 44 years with a mean age of 26.6 (±6.8) years. The identification of six serologic positive cases (0.4%) indicates low endemicity. This figure varied according to socio-demographic profile: according to age, those who were 20 years old or older had an increased frequency compared to the others (p> 0.05). No significant differences were observed in seropositivity by marital status, level of education, pregnancy, history of transfusion, while seropositivity was higher among carriers of tattoos/piercing than among non-carriers, which represented a 6.2 times higher risk (OR 6.2 95% CI 1.3 to 31.3). In conclusion, the frequency of HBsAg in our population was low. The risk factor associated with its detection was the presence of tattoos and / or piercings.

Keywords : Hepatitis B; Hepatitis B surface antigen; risk factors; serologic marker for HBV.

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