Prevalence of hepatitis B surface antigen in US-born and foreign-born Asian/Pacific Islander college students.
The prevalence of chronic hepatitis B (HBV) among college-age US-born Asian and Pacific Islanders (A/PI) is not well known.


OBJECTIVE
To compare the prevalence of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) seropositivity in US-born to A/PI-born students at a public university.


METHODS
Undergraduate who self-identified themselves as A/PI.


RESULTS
Of 145 US-born A/PI, 1.4% (confidence interval [CI] = 0.0%, 3.3%) tested positive for HBsAg compared to 3.3% (CI = 0.5%, 6.1%) of the 152 A/PI-born students. Approximately 1/3 of all students were unaware of their HBV vaccination status.


CONCLUSIONS
HBsAg prevalence among A/PI undergraduates, including US-born, is considerably higher (3 to 11 times) than the mainstream US population (0.3% to 0.5%) and supports the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommendations for testing all persons of A/PI ancestry, including US-born persons whose parents were born in regions with HBsAg prevalence of >or=8%. Awareness of HBV vaccination status was relatively low and vaccination did not assure that individuals were HBsAg negative.
Quang
Yen N
YN
Department of Internal Medicine, University of California Davis School of Medicine, Davis, California, USA.
Vu
Joanne
J
Yuk
Jihey
J
Li
Chin-Shang
CS
Chen
Moon
M
Bowlus
Christopher L
CL
D000328:Adult; D001213:Asian; D005260:Female; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006511:Hepatitis B Antigens / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D044468:Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander; D013334:Students; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D014495:Universities; D055815:Young Adult
D006511:Hepatitis B Antigens