Prevalence of Hepatitis B Virus and Related Risk Factors: A Case Study at Assela Referral Hospital, Oromia, Ethiopia

Background: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is hepatotropic virus whose primary replication occurs in the liver. Hepatitis is an infection of the liver caused by several viruses, the most common of which are hepatitis A, B and C. Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is spread mainly through contaminated blood and blood products, sexual contact and contaminated needles.

Objective: The study assesses the prevalence of hepatitis B virus and identify related risk factors for this viral infection among patients.

Methods: Simple random sampling method applied to this study. Bayesian Logistic Regression Model has been employed to predict the probability of prevalence of hepatitis virus (dependent variable), on the base of a set of predictor variables.

Results: The prevalence of hepatitis B virus was 10.9%. History of sexually transmitted disease, multiple sexual partner, frequent intake of alcohol, chat/smoking cigarette/ or any other drugs, and abortion had shown statistically significant association with prevalence.

Conclusions: Related risk factors associated with hepatitis B virus are history of sexually transmitted disease, multiple sexual partner, frequent intake of alcohol, chat/smoking cigarette/ or any other drugs, and abortion.