Prevalence of markers of hepatitis B in the adult German population

The prevalence of hepatitis B virus markers was investigated in 5305 indivi duals considered to be representative for the adult German population. Afte r adjustment of the data according to the age and sex distribution in the w hole German population an anti-HBc prevalence of 8.71% (95% confidence inte rval, 7.94-9.48%) and an HBsAg carrier rate of 0.62% (95% confidence interv al, 0.40-0.84%) were calculated. Anti-HBc prevalence increased with age fro m 4.12% in the youngest group to 15.66% in the 61-70-year-old. The percenta ge of HBsAg carriers showed a maximum of 1.12% in the 41-50-year-old indivi duals and decreased significantly in the older age groups. 1.40% (95% confi dence interval, 1.08-1.72%) of individuals had anti-HBc only. There was a t rend to higher rates of this pattern in males than in females; a significan tly higher percentage of persons with anti-HBc only was found in anti-HBc-p ositive individuals below 31 years than in older individuals. Five particip ants with anti-HBc only (7.7%, or about 0.1% of the whole population) showe d HBV-DNA despite the absence of HBsAg. 3.1% of anti-HBc positive individua ls where also positive for anti-HCV, that was significantly higher than the percentage of anti-HCV-positives among persons without any HBV marker (0.4 6%). This study provides a comprehensive picture of the current hepatitis B situation in Germany, showing new data especially on the distribution of H BsAg in the general population and on the subgroup of individuals with anti -HBc only. (C) 2001 Wiley-Liss, Inc.