1. Characteristics of Hepatitis B Infection in a Sample of Omani Patients = خصائص إلتهاب الكبد الوبائي ب في عينة من المرضى العمانيين
- Author
-
Ali Al-Maqbali, Khalid Al-Naamani, and Siham Al-Sinani
- Subjects
medicine.medical_specialty ,Cirrhosis ,biology ,business.industry ,Retrospective cohort study ,General Medicine ,Hepatitis B ,Hepatology ,medicine.disease ,Bioinformatics ,Serology ,Internal medicine ,Cohort ,medicine ,biology.protein ,Family history ,Antibody ,business - Abstract
Objectives : This study aimed to describe the demographic and virological characteristics of chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in a sample of Omani patients, and indirectly assess the efficacy of hepatitis B vaccination programmes and catch-up strategies. Methods : A retrospective study was undertaken of all patients with chronic HBV infections evaluated and followed-up at the Hepatology Clinic of the Armed Forces Hospital (AFH), Muscat, Oman, between January 2009 and April 2011. Results : A total of 154 patients met the inclusion criteria. The mean age of infected patients was 33 years with 72.7% being over 27 years. Females constituted 47.7% of the patients. Half of the cohort was referred either from the AFH’s Obstetric Clinic (29.2%) or its Blood Bank (22.1%). A family history of chronic HBV infection was present in 70% of patients. A total of 95% had positive hepatitis B surface antigens, while only 5% had isolated total hepatitis B core antibodies. Most patients (96%) were hepatitis B e-antigen-negative. The majority (77.9%) had low HBV dioribonucleic acid levels of
- Published
- 2013