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HOME > Korean J Prev Med > Volume 35(2); 2002 > Article
Original Article A Study on the Seropositivity of HBsAg among Biennial Health Examinees: A Nation-wide Multicenter Survey.
Dae Sung Kim, Young Sik Kim, Jae Yong Kim, Yoon Ok Ahn
Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health 2002;35(2):129-135
DOI: https://doi.org/
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1Department of Preventive Medicine, Gachon Medical School, Korea.
2Department of Family Medicine, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Korea.
3Korean Institute for Health and Social Affairs, Korea.
4Department of Preventive Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Korea.
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OBJECTIVE
The primary objective of this study was to estimate the prevalence of HBsAg-positives in the late 1990's among Korean adults. In addition, we evaluated the association of age, a residential area, a vaccination rate, a family history of chronic liver diseases and a past history of acute liver disease with the seropositivity of HBsAg, and estimated the prevalence of chronic HBV infection by follow-up for 6 month or more. METHODS: A total of 10 areas, six metropolitan and four small cities, were selected. In each cities, one health screening center was selected for recruitment of study subjects. The study subjects were enrolled from a general health examination program that is provided by medical insurance companies. Questionnaires on various risk factors were administered to the study subjects. Sera was drawn and tested for HBsAg by radioimmunoassay. HBeAg and ALT were also tested for those of HBsAg positive. The HBsAg positives was retest for HBsAg 6 months later. RESULTS: Among the study subjects (n= 1816), the seroprevalence of HBsAg was 5.5% (95% CI= 4.5%-6.6%), 7.4% in men (95% CI= 5.8-9.4) and 3.6% in women (95% CI= 2.5-5.0). A past history of acute liver disease and a family history of chronic liver diseases was shown to be risk factors for HBsAg positivity. Among the 31 HBsAg-positives, negative seroconversion rate was estimated to be 3.2 %, Thus, prevalence of chronic HBV infection was estimated to be 5.3% (95% CI= 3.7-6.6). CONCLUSION: In this study, the HBsAg seroprevalence rate was lower than that of the other studies in 1980's, particularly in young adult and women. Considering the public health importance of liver cancer and chronic liver diseases, the further effort is needed to prevent and reduce the HBV infection.

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