Sero-Prevalence and Distribution of Hepatitis B Surface Antigenaemia among People Living in Urban Settings in Rivers State of Nigeria

Background: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection remains a global health challenge, affecting millions of people worldwide. Globally, HBV prevalence is 3.2% and in Nigeria, the rate is 8.1%.

Aim: To determine the prevalence of hepatitis B surface antigen and how certain demographics affect the distribution of the infection.

Methodology: A cross-sectional study was carried out involving 392 individuals in three LGA in Rivers State who gave their consents to participate in the project, their samples were taken and aseptically worked on using HBsAg rapid diagnostic kit and then statistically analyzed using SPSS version 28, which gave the Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis test.

Result: The result based on demographics shows that in the age group analysis, those aged 40-50 have a higher prevalence (8.2%), while females have a lower rate (2.5%) than males (7.1%). No significant differences appear in marital status, education, or age groups. However, the test on occupation reveals a significant difference (P=0.001), with teachers having the lowest prevalence (2.2%) and applicants the highest (15.8%). The significant difference in HBsAg prevalence between males and females (P=0.028) was seen.

Conclusion: Having completed this study it has been revealed that only gender and occupation have an impact in HBsAg sero-prevalence, and targeted interventions may be needed, particularly focusing on occupations and sex with higher prevalence rates.