In order to study the prevalence and risk factors for hepatitis B in hemophiliacs in Goiás, 102 patients were interviewed and blood samples collected and screened for the following serological markers: HBsAg, anti-HBs and anti-HBc. An overall prevalence of 43.7% (95% IC: 33.5-54.2) was found to hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. Multivariate analysis of risk factors showed that the number of transfusions and positive serology for hepatitis C virus were significantly associated with HBV positivity. There were 48 (48.1%) susceptible patients for this infection, of whom 30 were immunized with the Euvax-B vaccine. Among them, 28 (93.3%) individuals developed anti-HBs titers higher than 10 IU/L. Thus, a good response was observed in the studied population. The findings of this study emphasize the importance of strategies of control and prevention of hepatitis B in this population.
Hemophiliacs; transfusion; hepatitis B; seroprevalence; vaccine
