Molecular Prevalence and Risk Factors of Hepatitis B Virus Infection Among the Patients Attending the Human Medical Laboratories in Kabul, Afghanistan

Background: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) can cause acute and/or chronic hepatitis, responsible for over one million deaths annually. We aimed to estimate the prevalence of hepatitis B and its risk factors among the patients attending the Human Medical Laboratories (HML) in Kabul, Afghanistan. Methods: This retrospective study was conducted on samples received between January 2022 and September 2023. We tested 2062 blood samples using a Geneproof Amplification Kit and Rotor-Gene Real-Time PCR. Descriptive and analytical statistics (Chi-square test and logistic regression) were analyzed using SPSS version 26. Results: The prevalence of HBV was 51.2% (1056/2062), with 59.3% males and a mean (SD) age of 32.0 (14.9) years. The majority of the HBV-positive patients (792/1056 or 74.8%) were from the age group of 16–45 years. The highest and lowest prevalence of HBV was observed in Kandahar (29/48 or 60.4%) and Nangarhar (107/235 or 45.5%), respectively. The mean overall HBV viral load was 39,587,427.2 IU/mL, with the highest and lowest mean viral load observed in patients from Takhar (71,940,575.8 IU/mL) and Kandahar (1,419,819.0 IU/mL), respectively. The statistically significant risk factors associated with HBV were blood transfusion, dental extraction, and syringe sharing. Conclusion: HBV is highly prevalent among the Afghans attending HML in Kabul, Afghanistan. The Afghanistan Ministry of Public Health and international donor agencies should help in conducting more studies of HBV in all 34 provinces of Afghanistan. This will help in finding the real burden and risk factors of HBV in different regions and ethnicities of Afghanistan.