Prevalence of Hepatitis D Virus Infection and Associated Factors Among HBsAg-Positive Patients in Birjand, Iran, 2012 - 2014

It is estimated that about 5% of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) carriers are infected with hepatitis D virus (HDV) worldwide. Moreover, dual infection with hepatitis B virus (HBV) / HDV causes more severe diseases and leads to a higher risk of mortality.
This study was performed to determine the prevalence of HDV infection and identify HDV-associated factors among HBsAg-positive patients in Birjand, South Khorasan province, Iran.
This descriptive, cross sectional study was conducted on 5235 participants in line with a previous study on the seroprevalence of HBV in South of Khorasan. HDV was assessed through evaluating the blood serum of diagnosed HBsAg-positive patients (85 cases) by ELISA test. For statistical analysis, descriptive statistics were calculated, using SPSS version 22.
In this study, the mean age of HBsAg-positive patients was 45.1 ± 12.9 years (minimum, 22 years; maximum, 70 years). In total, 1 out of 85 cases was positive for HDV virus. The prevalence of HDV infection among HBsAg-positive patients was 1.2% (95% CI, - 1.2 to 3.5).
The low prevalence of HDV infection in South of Khorasan was remarkable, considering the great area of this province, use of a comprehensive and inclusive sampling strategy, and mutual borders with Afghanistan.