1. What is the Role of the Horizontal Transmission of Hepatitis B Virus Infection in Young Adult and Middle-Aged Roma Population Living in the Settlements in East Slovakia?
- Author
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HepaMeta Team, Patricia Denisa Dorcakova, Daniel Pella, Mária Mareková, Dominik Safcak, Monika Halánová, Sylvia Drazilova, Peter Jarcuska, Pavol Kristian, Martin Janicko, and Andrea Madarasova-Geckova
- Subjects
Adult ,Male ,Rural Population ,HBsAg ,Hepatitis B virus ,Slovakia ,Roma ,Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis ,Population ,Roma population ,lcsh:Medicine ,medicine.disease_cause ,Article ,03 medical and health sciences ,Young Adult ,0302 clinical medicine ,Prevalence ,Medicine ,Humans ,030212 general & internal medicine ,Young adult ,Hepatitis B Antibodies ,education ,Substance Abuse, Intravenous ,Aged ,education.field_of_study ,biology ,business.industry ,Transmission (medicine) ,lcsh:R ,Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health ,virus diseases ,horizontal transmission ,Middle Aged ,hepatitis B infection ,Hepatitis B ,digestive system diseases ,hepatitis B prevalence ,Cross-Sectional Studies ,Cohort ,biology.protein ,030211 gastroenterology & hepatology ,Antibody ,business ,Horizontal transmission ,Demography - Abstract
Background: The aim of our work is to objectify the manner of transmission of HBV infection in young adult and middle-aged Roma people who live in the settlements. Methods: We used data from the cross-sectional study HepaMeta. We analyzed Roma people living in the settlements in East Slovakia, who have had HBsAg and anti HBc IgG antibodies examined. Results: We analyzed a cohort of 452 Roma participants with a mean of age 34.67 ± 9.14 years—159 (35.2%) were males. HBsAg positivity was diagnosed in 12.4% and the presence of anti HBc IgG antibodies was confirmed in 52% of participants. Prevalence of HBsAg positivity increases significantly with higher age, (p = 0.026), as well as the presence of anti HBc IgG antibodies (p <, 0.0001). The prevalence of HBsAg positivity has doubled and anti HBc IgG positivity has tripled within two decades (<, 25 years vs. 35–45 years) in Roma settlements in East Slovakia. Conclusions: These findings allow us to express an opinion that horizontal transmission in adulthood may play an important role in the spreading of HBV infection.
- Published
- 2020