title: Prevalence of hepatitis B surface antigen in US-born and foreign-born Asian/Pacific Islander college students.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, University of California Davis School of Medicine, Davis, California, USA.
authors.forename: Yen N
authors.initials: YN
authors.lastname: Quang
authors.forename: Joanne
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Vu
authors.forename: Jihey
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yuk
authors.forename: Chin-Shang
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Moon
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Christopher L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Bowlus
mesh_terms: 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
chemical_list: D006511:Hepatitis B Antigens