Prevalence and associated factors of hepatitis b virus among volunteer blood donors in jimma zone, southwest Ethiopia

Abstract

Background: Hepatitis B virus, a DNA virus of the family Hepadnaviridae is the causative agent of hepatitis B infection and about 50 to 100 times more infectious than HIV. Hepatitis B is a silent killer disease of the liver with many carriers not aware of their clinical status. WHO estimates in 2015 around 3.5% of the populations were living with chronic HBV infection in the world. Globally transfusion of contaminated blood causes up to 16 million new infections with HBV and with each blood unit transfused; there is always a 1% likelihood of transfusion-linked risks including transfusion-transmitted infections. Objective: The overall objective of this study was to determine the prevalence and associated factors of Hepatitis B Virus among volunteer blood donors in Jimma Zone. Method: A cross sectional study design was conducted among volunteer blood donors in Jimma Zone who donate blood for Jimma Blood Bank from March 10- April 20/2018. After ensuring the completeness of the questionnaire, the data were checked, data entry and analysis was done by Epi-data version 3.1 and SPSS 20.0 statistical software, respectively. Multivariable logistic regression analyses were used to identify independent risk factors of Hepatitis B virus among blood donors Result: Among a total of 548 volunteer blood donors participated in the study, Majority of them were found in the age group of 18-24 years 334(60.9%). The overall prevalence of HBsAg among volunteer blood donors participated in this study was 16 (2.9%) with 12(4.5%) were among male and 4(1.4%) in female. Following the multiple logistic regression analysis performed using forward stepwise method male sex {AOR=3.28, 95%CI: 1.01-10.68 (p-0.049)}, Age (groups 18-24) AOR=0.17, 95%CI: 0.36-0.78 (p-0.022) number of donation AOR= 0.25, 95%CI: 0.08-0.76 (p-0.015) and history exposure to unsafe therapeutic drug injection AOR= 6.98, 95%CI: 1.66-29.29 (p-0.008) had remained statistically significant factors for hepatitis B viral infections. Conclusion: The overall prevalence of HBsAg among volunteer blood donors participated in this study was 16 (2.9%) and first time donation and history of exposure to unsafe therapeutic drug injection were identified to be (high risk) factors independently associated with positive HBsAg status.