Sero-prevalence of hepatitis B and C viral infections in Ghanaian HIV positive cohort: a consideration for their health care

Abstract

Background Antiretroviral therapy (ART) has significantly decreased HIV/AIDS-related morbidity and mortality. However, globally, many people living with HIV die from non-AIDS related illnesses including liver diseases which occur partly due to co-infection with HBV and or HCV. The aim of this study was to determine the seroprevalence of HBV and HCV among HIV infected individuals receiving care from three different hospitals in the Central Region of Ghana. Methods This research was a case-case study. The population consisted of ART naive persons (newly confirmed HIV cases) and those who had been on ART for more than 3 months (old cases). Each individual’s sociodemographic characteristics and clinical data including their HBV and HCV status were collected. Those who knew their HBV and HCV status and those who did not know their status were tested for circulating HBsAg and anti-HCV using rapid diagnostic test cassettes. Descriptive analysis was done, and the data presented as median with interquartile range, frequency and percentage. Fisher’s exact test and Pearson Chi-square (χ 2 ) test were used to determine associations between categorical variables. Results Overall, 394 HIV individuals aged, 3 to 76 years old with a median age of 41 (IQR:34–49) participated in this study. Circulating HBsAg and anti-HCV were detected in 6.1% (24/394) and 0.5% (2/393) participants respectively with an overall seroprevalence of 6.6% (26/394). None of the participants was positive for both HBV and HCV infections. 92.1% (363/394) had no information on their HBV status while all the 394 participants did not know their HCV status during data collection. No significant association of HBV infection rate was found in all the socio-demographic data of the participants. But HBV infection rates were significantly higher in those at WHO clinical stages 2 and 3 ( P = 0.004). Conclusion HBV and HCV were detected among the HIV-infected participants. Majority of the participants had no information on their HBV status and none of the participants had information on his or her HCV status. This study recommends the need for policy makers to provide free HBV and HCV screening for all HIV infected individuals for their effective management.

Comparative Serologic Profiles of Hepatitis B Virus (Hbv) Between Hiv/HBV Co-Infected and HBV Mono-Infected Patients in Ile-Ife, Nigeria

“…This might be explained by the fact that in hyperendemic region for HBV infection such as Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, patients get infected at relatively younger ages mostly at childhood [18]. This is not unexpected due to high rate of perinatal and horizontal transmission of HBV in hyperendemic countries(>8%) [23], high infectivity rate of HBV [18], associated risk factors commoner in younger populations.Most of the patients with HBV/HIV co-infection were females (85%) .This may be due to gender differences in health seeking behavior among different ethnic groups in different regions of the country which is attributable to socio-cultural beliefs and norms in various regions [19].The observed prevalence of HBsAg among co-infected patients in this study falls below the national prevalence of HBsAg among people living with HIV/AIDS which ranges from 16-52% [20] and higher than the West African regional prevalence of 6.1% [21] and global prevalence of 7.4% [22].…”

“…This may be due to gender differences in health seeking behavior among different ethnic groups in different regions of the country which is attributable to socio-cultural beliefs and norms in various regions[19]. The observed prevalence of HBsAg among co-infected patients in this study falls below the national prevalence of HBsAg among people living with HIV/AIDS which ranges from 16-52%[20] and higher than the West African regional prevalence of 6.1%[21] and global prevalence of 7.4%[22].…”

Prevalence of viral hepatitis B in Ghana between 2015 and 2019: A systematic review and meta-analysis

“…The aforementioned information also revealed the research priorities for future studies: HBV prevalence among children and adolescents, in populations from the Upper West region of Ghana, and in rural areas. Due to the limited number of studies included in each meta-analysis, we were not able to explore the potential of publication bias [41]. However, a cumulative bias analysis showed that eight (n = 23 094) large included studies contributed about 91.21% of the total prevalence rate and hence the prevalence was not impacted by smaller studies.…”

“…The meta-analysis was based on four studies [17,30,38,41] conducted among HIV-positive clients. The total sample size was 4222 participants.…”

Living with hepatitis B virus infection; media messaging matters

“…4,5 Ghana is among the highly endemic countries in Sub-Saharan Africa with a prevalence of 5-12.5% among the adult population. [6][7][8][9] Living a healthy life in spite of the chronicity of any illness requires that the affected person adapts and copes with the psychological, emotional, socioeconomic and medical implications of the disease. 10,11 Knowledge is essential in dealing with these challenges.…”