title: Prevalence of antibody to hepatitis B virus in foreign-born hospital employees.
abstract: Hepatitis B surface and core antibodies were measured in 512 community hospital employees at increased risk for developing infection with hepatitis B virus. Antibody was detected in 140 (27 percent) participants. Multivariate logistic regression analysis indicated that seropositivity was strongly associated with the prevalence of hepatitis B in an employee's country of birth and with age. These results suggest that reported differences among hospitals in hepatitis B seropositivity may in part be a reflection of the national origin of its employees. These data also indicate that each hospital should assess its own risk for hepatitis B infection and that prevaccination serologic testing is particularly worthwhile in hospitals having large numbers of foreign-born employees.
mesh_terms: D002353:Carrier State / Q000208:ethnology*; D002489:Central America / Q000208:ethnology; D002641:Chicago; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005060:Europe / Q000208:ethnology; D005061:Europe, Eastern / Q000208:ethnology; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D006510:Hepatitis B Antibodies / Q000032:analysis*; D006745:Hospital Bed Capacity, 300 to 499; D006801:Humans; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000208:ethnology*; D010564:Personnel, Hospital; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012307:Risk Factors; D013020:South America / Q000208:ethnology; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D006113:United Kingdom / Q000208:ethnology; D014900:West Indies / Q000208:ethnology
chemical_list: D006510:Hepatitis B Antibodies