Hepatitis B Virus Infection in Eastern Taiwan: Viewed from a Regional General Hospital

台灣東部地區之B型肝炎感染狀況－以一區域醫院觀之

10.6440/TZUCMJ.199206.0094

林憲宏(Hsien-Hong Lin)；黃呂津(Lu-Chin Huang)；林等義(Deeng-Yih Lin)

B型肝炎病毒 ； B型肝炎表面抗原 ； 流行病學 ； 台灣 ； Hepatitis B virus ； HBsAg ； epidemiology ； Taiwan

慈濟醫學雜誌

4卷2期（1992 / 06 / 01）

94 - 99

英文

Taiwan is an endemic area of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection with a surface antigen (HBsAg) carrier rate of 15-20%. But data from the less populous eastern Taiwan is scanty. A serologic survey was performed for patients admitted to Buddhist Tzu-Chi General Hospital, the largest hospital in the eastern Taiwan, in February, May, and September of 1991. A total of 845 male and 852 female adult patients were enrolled in this study. The overall HBsAg antigen carrier rate was 18.0% and the HBV infection rate was 86.9%. Carriers of HBsAg was significantly younger than noncarriers (44.5 vs 49.7 years, P＜0.001). The HBsAg carrier rate decreased with adancing age, the HBV infection rate remained constant, and the percentage of patients with isolated core antibody (anto-HBc) increased with age. It is speculated that older carriers may clear HBsAg, or current enzyme immunoassays are not sensitie enough to detect the low level of serum HBsAg in the elderly. The HBV infection rate was lower in the aborigines, which isin contrast to that reported previously. The results suggest that the status of HBV infection in eastern Taiwan was comparable to that reported in other parts of Taiwan. For the aborigines, more extensive field survey is needed to elucidate the actual status of HBV infection in these people.

Taiwan is an endemic area of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection with a surface antigen (HBsAg) carrier rate of 15-20%. But data from the less populous eastern Taiwan is scanty. A serologic survey was performed for patients admitted to Buddhist Tzu-Chi General Hospital, the largest hospital in the eastern Taiwan, in February, May, and September of 1991. A total of 845 male and 852 female adult patients were enrolled in this study. The overall HBsAg antigen carrier rate was 18.0% and the HBV infection rate was 86.9%. Carriers of HBsAg was significantly younger than noncarriers (44.5 vs 49.7 years, P＜0.001). The HBsAg carrier rate decreased with adancing age, the HBV infection rate remained constant, and the percentage of patients with isolated core antibody (anto-HBc) increased with age. It is speculated that older carriers may clear HBsAg, or current enzyme immunoassays are not sensitie enough to detect the low level of serum HBsAg in the elderly. The HBV infection rate was lower in the aborigines, which isin contrast to that reported previously. The results suggest that the status of HBV infection in eastern Taiwan was comparable to that reported in other parts of Taiwan. For the aborigines, more extensive field survey is needed to elucidate the actual status of HBV infection in these people.