246028 Viral Hepatitis Infection among Vietnamese Americans, Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Areas, 2010

Sunday, October 30, 2011

Hee-Soon Juon, PhD , Department of Health, Behavior and Society, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD
Sang Tran, MD , Vietnamese Medical Society of Northeast America, Falls Church, VA
Jane Pan, BA , Hepatitis B Initiative of Washington DC, Washington, DC
Jennifer Lee, MD , The George Washington University, Washington, DC
Background: The purpose of this paper is to identify the status of viral hepatitis infection among Vietnamese Americans in Baltimore Washington Metropolitan Areas.

Methods: On July 18, 2010, a total of 543 Vietnamese American were tested for HBV and HCV infection at the health fair in collaboration with Hepatitis B Initiative-DC. Blood was collected by venipuncture and tested for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and antibody (HBsAb). Participants were also tested by antibody to hepatitis C virus.

Results: Among 543 persons with complete blood test, mean age was 50.05 years with 15.36 SD. About 62% were female. 11.2% (n=61) had chronic HBV infection (CI, 8.8%, 14.0%). 65.2% (n=354) had evidence of resolved HBV infection (CI, 61.1%, 69.2%) and 23.6% (n=128) were susceptible to HBV infection (CI, 20.3%, 27.3%). 3.6% (n=19) had HCV infection (CI, 2.1%, 5.4%). Two were infected with both HBV and HCV. The HBsAg (+) rate for 40-49, 50-59 and 60-69 year old participants (27.9%; 27.9%; 23%) were higher than those 30-39 years of age (4.9%) and above 70 (3.3%). The HBsAg (+) rate was slightly higher for males (12.4%) as compared to females (10.5%). The 1-, 2-, and 3-dose vaccination coverage rates for those 128 unprotected were 65.6%, 63.3%, and 60.2%, respectively.

Conclusions: Given the high prevalence of chronic HBV infection among Vietnamese Americans, we call for health care providers to screen Vietnamese immigrants for HBV, regardless of their vaccination status.

Learning Areas:
Assessment of individual and community needs for health education
Epidemiology

Learning Objectives:
To examine the status of viral hepatitis infection in high risk population

Keywords: Asian Americans, Hepatitis B

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am the member to organize the helath fair and help to disseminate the findings
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

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