Prevalence of Hepatitis B in Canadian First-Time Blood Donors: Association with Social Determinants of Health

Hepatitis B is transmitted sexually, by blood contact, and vertically from mother to child. Chronic hepatitis B is often seen in immigrants from higher-prevalence countries and their Canadian-born children. We assessed the relationship between hepatitis B and social determinants of health. Included...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Viruses 2024-01, Vol.16 (1), p.117
Main Authors: O'Brien, Sheila F, Ehsani-Moghaddam, Behrouz, Goldman, Mindy, Drews, Steven J
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Age groups
Aged
Antigens
Blood & organ donations
Blood Donors
Canada - epidemiology
Child
Diagnosis
Drug use
Epidemiology
Ethnicity
Female
Health aspects
Hepatitis B
Hepatitis B - epidemiology
Hepatitis B, Chronic - epidemiology
Humans
Immigrants
Immunization
Infections
Infectious Disease Transmission, Vertical
Male
Males
Minority & ethnic groups
Neighborhoods
Prevalence
Public health
Regression analysis
Risk factors
Social Determinants of Health
Socioeconomic factors
Socioeconomic status
Statistics
surveillance
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Summary:Hepatitis B is transmitted sexually, by blood contact, and vertically from mother to child. Chronic hepatitis B is often seen in immigrants from higher-prevalence countries and their Canadian-born children. We assessed the relationship between hepatitis B and social determinants of health. Included were 1,539,869 first-time Canadian blood donors from April 2005 to December 2022. All donations were tested for hepatitis B markers. Logistic regression was fit with chronic hepatitis B as the dependent variable and age, sex, year, and ethnocultural composition and material deprivation quintiles as independent variables. Chronic hepatitis B prevalence was 47.5/100,000 (95% CI 41.5-53.5, years 2017-2022). Chronic hepatitis B prevalence was elevated in males, older age groups, and those living in more materially deprived and higher ethnocultural neighbourhoods. Of 212,518 donors from 2020 to 2022 with race/ethnicity data, chronic hepatitis B prevalence was highest in East Asians. The findings are consistent with infections in immigrants, acquired in their country of origin, in their Canadian-born children and in those with other risks. As blood donors are a low-risk population unaware of their infection and unlikely to seek testing, our results highlight the ongoing public health challenges of diagnosing chronic hepatitis B and treating it when appropriate.
ISSN:1999-4915
1999-4915
DOI:10.3390/v16010117