title: Serolological Profile Among HBsAg-Positive Infections in Southeast China: A Community-Based Study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection has remained a significant public health problem. Generating a large-scale, community-based profile of HBV infection in China is essential to prevention of the disease.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The current study was designed to investigate HBV-infected individuals at the community level and determine the age distribution, hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) positivity and its related risk factors, relationship among serological markers.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional, community-based survey was carried out without age restriction, in 12 communities of two counties. The study population was selected by random multistage cluster sampling. Serological samples and demographic information were collected from 8439 HB surface antigen (HBsAg)-positive individuals.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The constituent ratio of individuals with HBsAg-positive infections was lowest among persons aged < 20 years (0.4%) and the highest among persons aged 40-49 years (33.2%). The HBeAg-positive rate among infected individuals was 18.5%, and the constituent ratio decreased with increasing of age. The HBeAg-positive rate in males (21.9%) was significantly higher than in females (14.7%), and was higher among coastland inhabitants (22.9%) than among plains inhabitants (12.9%). Among the 1561 HBeAg-positive individuals, 91.0% were HBV DNA-positive. However, of the 6878 HBeAg-negative individuals, only 45.4% were HBV DNA-positive, and the HBeAg-positive rate was significantly different at different levels of HBV DNA expression. The proportion of detectable HBV DNA levels was significantly higher in individuals with elevated ALT, compared to those with normal ALT, regardless of HBeAg-positivity.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The HBV prevalence remained high in the > 20 age group. The positivity of HBeAg was related to age, region, and sex. Testing HBeAg and serum ALT levels were effective ways to assess HBV infectiousness in community-level hospitals in China.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital, College of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Ping
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Chengbo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Jinghua
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Bing
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ruan
authors.forename: Jingjing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ren
authors.forename: Shigui
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Kaijin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Liang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Lanjuan
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Li
keywords: China; Hepatitis B; Hepatitis B e Antigens; Residence Characteristics; Serologic Tests