HEPATITIS B SCREENING IN PATIENTS ADMITTED FOR SURGERY AT A TERTIARY CARE HOSPITAL OF ABBOTTABAD, PAKISTAN

Abstract

Introduction: Screening for Hepatitis B is not a routine in most hospitals of Pakistan, and precautions are taken only when a known case is being treated, whereas studies indicate HBV infection is at high frequency in patients admitted for elective surgery. The present study was conducted to determine the frequency of Hepatitis B infection in patients admitted for surgery at a tertiary care hospital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan.
Methods: The cross-sectional study carried out at all the surgical and allied wards of Ayub Teaching Hospital Abbottabad, from December 2015 to August 2016, enrolled 115 pre-surgical patients by convenience sampling. Data were collected through questionnaires and analyzed using SPSS 16 for descriptive statistics.
Results: Among 115 patients, 06(5.2%) were positive for HBV while 109(94.8%) were HBsAg negative. There were 64(55.65%) males and 51(44.35%) females; 26(22.6%) patients were from ENT ward, Gynae A 3(2.6%), Gynae B 5(4.3%), Gynae C 14(12.2%), Orthopedic A15 (13.0%), Orthopedic B 6(5.2%), Surgical A 8(7.0%), Surgical B 7(6.1%), Surgical C 8(7.0%) and Urology 23(20.0%). Out of 6, four Hepatitis positive patients were having past surgical history. Only one of them was having past history of blood transfusion. 16(13.9%) patient had a family history of Hepatitis and 95(82.6%) patients have no history. 29 patients were vaccinated, 50 patients were not vaccinated and 36 patients did not know their immunization status. The frequency of HBV was 5.2 %.
Conclusion: Males are more prone to HBV infections as compared to females. Infection rate is also high among people who had previous surgeries in the past.