Preoperative Hepatitis B seroprevalence and AntiHbs Levels in Children Consulted for Dental Procedures Under Anaesthesia
Abstract
Background/Aims: Hepatitis B virus infection continues to be a major global and national public health concern. The aim of this study was to examine the seroprevalence of hepatitis B virus in children who were consulted to child health and diseases before dental intervention and to share our findings with the healthcare personnel involved on this subject.
Methods: A total of 932 children were enrolled in the study, of which 533 (57.2%) were boys and 399 (42.8%) were girls. In the blood samples taken; hepatitis B virus tests were studied with the Enzyme Linked Immuno Sorbent Assay method. The results of blood samples and demographic data of the patients were evaluated.
Results: HBsAg positivity was not found in any of the patients (0%). AntiHbs seropositivity was found in 73.8% of the whole patient population. No statistically significant difference was detected when comparing the anti-HBs levels based on gender. The average age of children with antiHbs seropositive was found to be statistically significant lower than that of those with antiHBs negative. The median anti-HBS antibody levels were significantly higher in the group of children under 5 years old than in the other two age groups older than five years old in our study. When investigating the association between the level of antiHBs and age, a weak negative correlation was found.
Conclusions: Our study showed that the antiHbs seropositivity is higher in Konya compared to previous studies. It suggests that the national vaccination program has a positive impact on antiHbs seroprevalence. Our study revealed that children under the age of five displayed the highest levels of anti-HBs seropositivity, while the anti-HBs levels diminished with advancing age.
Keywords
children, consultation, Hepatitis B virus, preoperative period, seroprevalance
References
- Stinco M, Rubino C, Trapani S, Indolfi G. Treatment of hepatitis B virus infection in children and adolescents. World J Gastroenterol 2021;27:6053-6063
- Veronese P, Dodi I, Esposito S, Indolfi G. Prevention of vertical transmission of hepatitis B virus infection. World J Gastroenterol 2021;27:4182-4193
- Karaaslan, Erhan. Tokat İlinde Çocuklarda Ve Ergenlerde Hepatit B Prevalansi Ve Aşilama Programinin Etkisi: Retrospektif Epidemiyolojik Bir Çalişma. Ejons International Journal 2019;3:149-160
- Kazmi SA, Rauf A, Alshahrani MM, Awadh AAA, Iqbal Z, Soltane R, et al. Prevalence, Associated Risk Factors, Knowledge Assessment, and Treatment Management. Viruses 2022;14:1936
- Dahiya P, Kamal R, Sharma V, Kaur S. "Hepatitis" - Prevention and management in dental practice. J Educ Health Promot 2015;4:33
- Reddy RS, Swapna LA, Ramesh T, Pradeep K. Knowledge, attitude and practice in hepatitis B prevention among dental professionals in India. Braz J Oral Sci 2011;10:241–245
- Balcı M, Küçük Ö, Erdoğan Y, Yazar H, Satılmış Ö, Uyar M ve ark. Çocuklarda HBV aşısının koruyuculuk oranı ve anti-HBs değerlerinin yaş ve cinsiyet ile olan ilişkisi. Sakarya Tıp Dergisi 2012;2:131-135
- Deveci U, Acar U. Seroprevalence of hepatitis B virus, hepatitis C virus and human immunodeficiency virus in children undergoing endoscopy in our pediatric gastroenterology clinic. J Pediatr Inf 2020;14:5-8
- Mingir S, Sensoy N, Demirturk N. Evaluation of Hepatitis A and Hepatitis C Serologies and Hepatitis B Vaccine Application Responses In Adolescent Children. TJFMPC 2023;17:126-131
- Atabek ME, Ural O, Çoban H. Konya’da çocuklarda Hepatit A, B, C seroprevalansı. Çocuk Sağlığı ve Hastalıkları Dergisi 2001;44: 66-70