Risk factors for Hepatitis B virus co-infection among HIV patients attending comprehensive care clinics in Makueni County, Kenya

Abstract

The effect of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection on the natural history of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) disease remains uncertain. Nearly one third of people who are infected with HIV are also infected with hepatitis B and both infections have similar transmission routes. Therefore this study was conducted to determine the risk factors for Hepatitis B virus coinfection among HIV patients attending comprehensive care clinics in Makueni County, Kenya This was a prospective cohort study among patients seeking HIV services in Makueni County. Newly diagnosed patients with HIV and co-infected with HBV aged 18 years and above and had not started ARVS recruited in the study. A total of 258 were recruited, majority (63%) of the study participants in both HIV/HBV positive and HIV/HBV negative arms of the study were females. The mean age of the participants was 31 years and most(32% of them in the HIV/HBV cohort were aged 26-30 years while in HIV cohort most(26%) were aged 31- 35 years.Condom use,number of sexual partners and smoking or taking alchol were significantly associated with HIV/HBV coinfection at p=0.038,p=0.001,p=0.000) respectively.Demographic characteristics e.g Age,gender,level of education,marital status,employment status did not show any association. The study further highlight that females are more vulnerable to HBV co-infection more than their male counterparts,which may have accounted for the increased prevalence among females. Nonetheless, awareness on the means of preventing these infections such as the use of condoms, having one sexual partner and avoiding use of alcohol or smoking will greatly reduce the prevalence of HIV/HBV prevalence in both rural and urban areas.