Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health
Volume 19, Issue 4, 2017, Pages 987-990

Seroprevalence of Hepatitis B Infection Among Immigrants in a Primary Care Clinic: A Case for Granular Ethnicity and Language Data Collection (Article)

Terasaki G.* , Desai A. , McKinney C.M. , Haider M.Z.
  • a Department of Medicine, University of Washington and Harborview Medical Center, 325 Ninth Avenue, Box 359780, Seattle, WA 98104, United States
  • b Internal Medicine Residency Program, University of Washington, 1959 Ne Pacific Street, Box 356421, Seattle, WA 98195-6421, United States
  • c Department of Oral Health Sciences, University of Washington, Health Sciences B224, Box 357475, Seattle, WA 98195, United States
  • d Department of Medicine, University of Washington and Harborview Medical Center, 325 Ninthavenue, Box 359780, Seattle, WA 98104, United States

Abstract

Chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is highly prevalent worldwide and is most often diagnosed through screening efforts. In order to identify the specific ethnic groups at greatest risk, it is necessary to go beyond traditional categories. We conducted a retrospective case series in a primary care clinic serving non-English speaking immigrants to determine the prevalence of HBV among patients of various primary spoken languages (used as a proxy for ethnicity). Among the 1378 patients, the overall prevalence of current infection was 8%. HBV infection was markedly higher among Somali, Oromo and Khmer speakerscompared to other groups. This study illustrates the use of granular language data in describing the serologic profiles of HBV infection among non-English speaking patients in primary care setting. The variations in prevalence by language have implications for public health HBV screening efforts, in addition to suggesting potential risk factors for transmission. © 2016, Springer Science+Business Media New York.

Author Keywords

Immigrant Hepatitis B infection language Ethnicity Prevalence Refugee

Index Keywords

human middle aged statistics and numerical data language ethnology Humans migrant male Emigrants and Immigrants female Socioeconomic Factors risk factor Risk Factors socioeconomics Retrospective Studies adult Hepatitis B, Chronic seroepidemiology chronic hepatitis B hepatitis B surface antigen retrospective study Hepatitis B Surface Antigens Seroepidemiologic Studies primary health care
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85007482541&doi=10.1007%2fs10903-016-0543-7&partnerID=40&md5=5405462c14b723b165890234c6e2eb95
DOI: 10.1007/s10903-016-0543-7
ISSN: 15571912
Original Language: English