[A study on viral hepatitis markers and abnormal liver function test in adults living in northwest area of Chungnam].
OBJECTIVE
We studied the prevalence of chronic hepatitis B, C and abnormality on liver function among the population in northwest area of Chungnam.


METHODS
We have reviewed 40,112 adults who had received medical examination at health promotion center in Dankook university hospital. We studied them retrospectively about HBsAg, HBsAb, anti-HCV, and liver function test (LFT).


RESULTS
Among the study subjects, 22,936 men and 17,176 women were involved. The overall seroprevalence of HBsAg was 4.2%. The prevalence in men (4.5%) was higher than that of women (3.7%) (p<0.001). The seroprevalence of HBsAg in their age was 5.1% in the 5th decade, 4.2% in the 2nd decade, 4.1% in the 4th decade, and 4.1% in the 6th decade. The overall seroprevalence of HBsAb was 65.1%. The overall seroprevalence of anti-HCV was 0.7%. After we reexamined them with HCV RNA or RIBA (Recombinant Immunoblot Assay), the prevalence of chronic hepatitis C was 0.09%. The LFT abnormality in total subjects was 11.4%. The LFT abnormality of chronic hepatitis B and C subjects was 21.72% and 63.2%.


CONCLUSIONS
The prevalence of chronic hepatitis B and C was lower than that of previous studies. The prevalence of chronic hepatitis B in the 2nd decade was still high.
Kim
Suk Bae
SB
Department of Internal Medicine, Dankook University College of Medicine, Cheonan, Korea.
Lee
Won Kyung
WK
Choi
Hoon
H
Kim
So Mi
SM
Noh
Rhan
R
Kang
Ha Yan
HY
Lee
Sang Suk
SS
Ra
Sung Soo
SS
Gong
Jae Hwan
JH
Shin
Hyun Duk
HD
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006510:Hepatitis B Antibodies / Q000097:blood; D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens / Q000097:blood; D019694:Hepatitis B, Chronic / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000276:immunology / Q000503:physiopathology; D018937:Hepatitis C Antibodies / Q000097:blood; D019698:Hepatitis C, Chronic / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000276:immunology / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D007723:Korea; D008111:Liver Function Tests; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000097:blood; D012189:Retrospective Studies
D006510:Hepatitis B Antibodies; D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens; D018937:Hepatitis C Antibodies; D012367:RNA, Viral