Abstract

Background: Viral hepatitis is a global health problem and causes a great chunk of morbidity in the pediatric population. The pediatric age is important because the outcome of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection depends inversely with the age of acquiring the infection and the immune status of the host. Humans are the only source of cases and carriers of HBV, so targeting our immunization policy more toward susceptible groups can help stop hepatitis B infection transmission to nil. India falls under intermediate zone of the World Health Organization according to the prevalence of hepatitis B surface antigen in general population so as to tackle the enormous burden of about 50 million carriers.

Objective: To throw light on the relation of demographic factors such as age, gender, diet, and religion of the children who were icteric with Australia antigen positivity rate and to observe whether gender or religious/cultural practice of a particular section of the population had a positive correlation with the susceptibility of getting more often infected in the pediatric age group.

Materials and Methods: Study was conducted in 100 children (up to the age of 12 years) presenting with jaundice in the pediatric OPD and emergency of Patna Medical College and Hospital, Patna, Bihar, India. They were divided into five groups (0–1, 2–4, 5–7, 8–10, and 11–12 years). Fifty healthy children were taken as controls.

Result: Of the total 100 children presenting with jaundice, 69 were boys and 31 were girls. Total children in the age groups 0–1, 2–4, 5–7, 8–10, and 11–12 years were 8, 30, 25, 24, and 13, respectively. Boys had higher HBsAg positivity rate compared with girls from all age groups except the age group of 5–7 years. There were 51 subjects who were nonvegetarian and 49 subjects who were vegetarian and the HBsAg positivity in them was 12 (23.5%) and 8 (16.3%), respectively. There were 81 subjects who were Hindus and 19 who were Muslims with the positivity rate in them being 17.3% and 32%, respectively.

Conclusion: Our study shows a high frequency of exposure to HBV infection in children, so this study shows the importance of universal immunization against HBV. It shows a different manner of frequency of HBV infection in our society as previous studies all reported urban/rural and general population versus tribal population differences.

Key words: Age, gender, HBsAg, jaundice, children