Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection was down among U.S. adults in recent years, with an increase in vaccination during that time, researchers found.
Prevalence of past or present HBV infection declined from 5.7% in 1999-2002 to 4.3% in 2015-2018, with vaccination against HBV increasing from 12.3% to 25.2% during those times, reported Geraldine McQuillan, PhD, of the National Center for Health Statistics in Hyattsville, Maryland, and colleagues.
Men had a higher prevalence of HBV infection than women, with the highest prevalence among non-Hispanic Asian adults (21%) and non-Hispanic black adults (11%), they wrote in a NCHS Data Brief.
However, they noted significant limitations, namely that National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey (NHANES) data does not include people who are institutionalized, incarcerated, or people experiencing homelessness.
"There may be a higher prevalence of risk behaviors and need for adult hepatitis B vaccination among some of these populations (e.g., injection-drug users)," they noted, acknowledging their report may provide more "conservative estimates" about both HBV prevalence and vaccination.
Researchers examined blood collected via adult participants in NHANES from 1999 to 2018. From 2015-2018, HBV prevalence was also higher among adults born outside the U.S. (12%) versus those born inside the U.S. (2.5%), which the authors noted was "consistent with prior literature on HBV infection."
In terms of HBV vaccination by blood test results, a higher proportion of women were vaccinated compared with men (28% vs 22%, respectively), and vaccination rates were highest among non-Hispanic Asian adults (31%) compared with all other races and subgroups. The authors noted vaccination status did not differ by U.S. birth status.
McQuillan and co-authors disclosed no relevant relationships with industry.
NCHS Data Brief