What is the Role of the Horizontal Transmission of Hepatitis B Virus Infection in Young Adult and Middle-Aged Roma Population Living in the Settlements in East Slovakia?

Sylvia Drazilova, Pavol Kristian, Martin Janicko, Monika Halanova, Dominik Safcak, Patricia Denisa Dorcakova, Maria Marekova, Daniel Pella, Andrea Madarasova-Geckova, Peter Jarcuska and HepaMeta Team
Additional contact information
Sylvia Drazilova: Department of Internal Medicine, Hospital Poprad and Faculty of Medicine, P.J. Safarik University, 058 01 Poprad, Slovakia
Pavol Kristian: Department of Infectology and Travel Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, P.J. Safarik University and L. Pasteur University Hospital, 040 01 Kosice, Slovakia
Martin Janicko: 2nd Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, P.J. Safarik University and L. Pasteur University Hospital, 040 11 Kosice, Slovakia
Monika Halanova: Department of Epidemiology, Faculty of Medicine, P.J. Safarik University, 040 01 Kosice, Slovakia
Dominik Safcak: East Slovakia Oncology Institute and Faculty of Medicine, P.J. Safarik University, 040 01 Kosice, Slovakia
Patricia Denisa Dorcakova: Department of Infectology and Travel Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, P.J. Safarik University and L. Pasteur University Hospital, 040 01 Kosice, Slovakia
Maria Marekova: Department of Medical and Clinical Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, P.J. Safarik University, 040 11 Kosice, Slovakia
Daniel Pella: 2nd Department of Cardiology, East Slovak Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases and Faculty of Medicine, P.J. Safarik University, 040 11 Kosice, Slovakia
Andrea Madarasova-Geckova: Department of Health Psychology, Faculty of Medicine, P.J. Safarik University, 040 11 Kosice, Slovakia
Peter Jarcuska: 2nd Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, P.J. Safarik University and L. Pasteur University Hospital, 040 11 Kosice, Slovakia
HepaMeta Team: HepaMeta Team members are listed in Appendix A .

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 9, 1-10

Abstract: Background : The aim of our work is to objectify the manner of transmission of HBV infection in young adult and middle-aged Roma people who live in the settlements. Methods : We used data from the cross-sectional study HepaMeta. We analyzed Roma people living in the settlements in East Slovakia, who have had HBsAg and anti HBc IgG antibodies examined. Results : We analyzed a cohort of 452 Roma participants with a mean of age 34.67 ± 9.14 years—159 (35.2%) were males. HBsAg positivity was diagnosed in 12.4% and the presence of anti HBc IgG antibodies was confirmed in 52% of participants. Prevalence of HBsAg positivity increases significantly with higher age, ( p = 0.026), as well as the presence of anti HBc IgG antibodies ( p < 0.0001). The prevalence of HBsAg positivity has doubled and anti HBc IgG positivity has tripled within two decades (<25 years vs. 35–45 years) in Roma settlements in East Slovakia. Conclusions : These findings allow us to express an opinion that horizontal transmission in adulthood may play an important role in the spreading of HBV infection.

Keywords: Roma population; hepatitis B infection; horizontal transmission; hepatitis B prevalence (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/9/3293/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/9/3293/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:9:p:3293-:d:355680

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().