Prevalence of Hepatitis B virus and its predictors among volunteer blood donors in Jimma, Ethiopia, 2018: A cross-sectional study

Background

Previous studies of blood donors in Ethiopia have focused on all types of donors without exposure screening before blood donation. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of Hepatitis B virus and its predictors among volunteer blood donors in Jimma, Ethiopia.

Materials and methods

Cross-sectional study was conducted on sampled volunteer blood donors who were consecutively included from March 10 to April 20, 2018. Virus detection was investigated by testing for Hepatitis B surface antigen in the serum. Data collected through face-to-face interviews, has been cleaned and checked, entered into Data 3.1 and analyzed by statistical software SPSS version 20. The level of statistical significance was reported to be p<0.05 in the multivariable logistic regression.

Results

A total of 548 participants with 60.96% in the 18–24 age group were participated and the overall prevalence of HBV infection was 2.92%. The test positivity rate among males was 12/268 (4.48%) and while the rate among females was 4/280 (1.43%). More than 80% of those who tested positive were under the age of 35 years. Being male [AOR=3.28, 95%CI: 1.01–10.68], age 18–24 [AOR=0.17, 95%CI: 0.36–0.78], frequency of donation [AOR= 0.25, 95%CI: 0.08–0.76], and exposure to unsafe injection [AOR= 6.98, 95%CI: 1.66–29.29] were significant factors.

Conclusion

The overall prevalence of HBsAg was intermediate with positivity higher in males. Furthermore, age, frequency of donation and exposure to unsafe therapeutic drug injection were independent predictors. Therefore, the blood bank should raise awareness to repeat volunteer young donors and focus on identified low-risk groups.