Rate of hepatitis B infection in hospital patients and blood donors in Ha'il, KSA and associated risk factors: A retrospective study

HBV infection is HBV infection is still a major public health and economic concern worldwide. Therefore, epidemiological studies are still at high concern. There are no epidemiological studies conducted for the prevalence of hepatitis B infection in Ha'il in Saudi Arabia so far. This study aimed to estimate the rate of hepatitis B infection and identifying potential risk factors, among patients/blood donors at King Khalid general hospital in Ha'il, KSA. Therefore, a retrospective analysis was performed to estimate Hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) positivity among patients/blood donors. Data of 3727 patients/blood donors for HBsAg test was collected and analyzed using Microsoft Excel. Correlations and regression analysis were performed using the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) programs. The level of statistical significance for the study was set at p < 0.05. The results showed that the rate of HBsAg among patients/blood donors was 1.1%. The rate of HBsAg was higher in male, age group >50 years old, blood donors and kidney artificial unit as well as gastroenterology/hepatology patients and in September. Logistic regression analysis demonstrated that only male (P<0.01), progressing age (P<0.001), blood donors (P<0.05) as well as gastroenterology/hepatology patients (P<0.01) made significant contributions to prediction