Characterization of Chronic Hepatitis B Cases Among Foreign-Born Persons in Six Population-Based Surveillance Sites, United States 2001–2010

• DOI: 10.1007/s10903-014-0012-0
• Publication Date: 2014-04-04T07:11:53Z
• Authors: Stephen J. Liu; Kashif Iqbal; Sue Shallow; Suzanne Speers; Elena Rizzo; Kristin Gerard; Tasha Poissant; R. Monina Klevens
• Keywords: Adult; Male; 0301 basic medicine; Adolescent; Emigrants and Immigrants; Middle Aged; United States; 3. Good health; 03 medical and health sciences; Hepatitis B, Chronic; Population Surveillance; Prevalence; Humans; Female

National surveys indicate prevalence of chronic hepatitis B among foreign-born persons in the USA is 5.6 times higher than US-born. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention funded chronic hepatitis B surveillance in Emerging Infections Program sites. A case was any chronic hepatitis B case reported to participating sites from 2001 to 2010. Sites collected standardized demographic data on all cases. We tested differences between foreign- and US-born cases by age, sex, and pregnancy using Chi square tests. We examined trends by birth country during 2005-2010. Of 36,008 cases, 21,355 (59.3%) reported birth in a country outside the USA, 2,323 (6.5%) were US-born. Compared with US-born, foreign-born persons were 9.2 times more frequent among chronic hepatitis B cases. Foreign-born were more frequently female, younger, ever pregnant, and born in China. Percentages of cases among foreign-born persons were constant during 2005-2010. Our findings support information from US surveillance for Hepatitis B screening and vaccination efforts.