Seroprevalence of Hepatitis B Surface Antigen (HBSAg) among Patients Attending Tertiary Care Teaching Hospital in Solapur, Maharashtra

Background: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection continues to be serious public health problem in India as well as globally. HBV is a DNA virus which is member of Hepadnaviridae. HBV is capsulated and bears surface antigen (HBSAg), which is one of the earliest markers to appear during the course of infection. Aim of the present study is to find out the seroprevalence of Hepatitis B surface antigen among patients attending tertiary care hospital in Solapur, Maharashtra. Material and Method: This is a cross sectional study carried out in a tertiary care hospital in Solapur between Jan 2017 to Dec 2018. Data collection was done from laboratory register of patient tested for surface antigen of HBV. Permission for the study was taken from concerned authorities. Results: A total of 10, 884 patients were tested for HBSAg between Jan 2017 to Dec 2017, from which 152 (1.39%) were found to be positive. While between Jan 2018 to Dec 2018 a total of 6892 patients were tested for HBSAg of which 97 (1.40%) were found positive for surface antigen of HBV. Therefore prevalence rate of HBSAg for the year 2017 was 1.39% and that of year 2018 was 1.40%. On data analysis between Jan 2017 to Dec 2018, it was seen that males were more commonly infected by HBV infection in comparison to females. Most common age group affected in both genders was age group between 15 to 45 years, followed by 46-59 years and age group more than 60 years.