Prevalence of HBsAg Positive and HBsAb Negative Populations in Rural Mianyang

Objective To determine the prevalence of positive HBsAg and negative HBsAg populations in rural Mianyang, and provide evidence support for proper immunization strategies. Methods A questionnaire survey was conducted on 163 797 rural residents in Mianyang selected through a multistage random sampling strategy. Serum samples were taken from the participants to detect HBsAg and HBsAb with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Results Overall, 6.57% 〔95% confidence interval (CI): 6.45%-6.69%〕 of participants were HBsAg positive. In those with negative HBsAg, 40.32% (95%CI: 40.36%-40.84%) had negative HBsAb. Higher prevalence of positive HBsAg was found in the male participants (7.74%) compared with the females (5.73%). But the male participants with negative HBsAg were less likely to have negative HBsAb (39.93%) than their female counterparts (40.61%). Those aged between 56 and 65 years had the highest prevalence of positive HBsAg (7.36%); whereas, those aged between 86 and 96 years had the highest prevalence of negative HBsAg/HBsAb (47.61%). The participants who were married (6.63%), resided in Fucheng District (9.23%), had a family history of Hepatitis B (21.01%) and were not vaccinated (7.30%) had higher prevalence of positive HBsAg than others. Those who were divorced and widowed (43.04%), resided in An County (55.24%), had no family history of Hepatitis B (40.60%), and were vaccinated (40.92%) had higher prevalence of negative HBsAg/HBsAb than others. These differences were statistically significant (P<0.05). Conclusion A high proportion of ruralresidents in Mianyang are HBsAg positive or HBsAg/HBsAb negative. The older population and those without vaccination should be the main target in the prevention and control of hepatitis B.