The Prevalence of Occult HBV Infection Among Hemodialysis Patients of Tehran, Iran

The presence of HBV DNA in the absence of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) in the serum of patients is called occult HBV infection (OBI). Because of the risk of hepatitis B transmission, OBI is an important subject for haemodialysis (HD) patients and centres.
The present study was conducted to determine the prevalence of OBI among haemodialysis patients.
In this cross-sectional study, serum specimens were obtained from 200 haemodialysis patients who referred to HD centres of Iran University of Medical Sciences in Tehran (Iran) and were tested for HBsAg. They were then tested for HBV viral load in plasma and the presence of the HBV genome in peripheral blood mononuclear cell specimens using real-time PCR. Demographic data (age, sex, history of HBV vaccination, and blood transfusion), liver enzymes (AST, ALT), and duration of HD were recorded.
Among the 200 HD patients, 109 (54.5%) were male and 91 (45.5%) were female. The mean age of the patients was 56.09 ± 15.5 years (range: 22 to 88 years). A total of 38 patients (19%) had a history of blood transfusion and all patients had received 3 doses of hepatitis B vaccine (34 patients also received a booster dose after recording a low serum level of HBsAb.). The prevalence of OBI was 0.5% (1/200).
Considering the moderate prevalence of hepatitis B virus infection in Iran, the prevalence of OBI in HD patients was very low, which could be due to regular and on-time vaccination for hepatitis B and the good preventive care in HD centres.