Changing trends of Hepatitis B seromarkers amongst pakistani population: a laboratory-based review

摘要

Objective: To study the changing trends of hepatitis B markers tested at Aga Khan University Hospital clinical laboratory according to the internationally recognised classification of hepatitis B profile.Methods:The retrospective study involved analysis of laboratory records of hepatitis B profiles of all patients collected from January 2001 to December 2008 at the Aga Khan University Hospitalu27s clinical laboratory. Patients with complete profile tested were categorised according to the Centre for Diseases Control classification of hepatitis B profile. SPSS 16 was used for statistical analysis. RResults:A total of 185,825 patients had serological markers for hepatitis B tested. Mean-age of reactive hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) patients was 30±12.5 years. HBsAg reactivity was significantly higher in males than females (34% vs 12%; pConclusion:The study substantiated the general perception that levels of HBsAg is showing a decreasing trend, while levels of HBsAb are increasing perhaps due to better vaccination of population.