PRE-OPERATIVE SCREENING FOR HEPATITIS B C IN GENERAL SURGICAL POPULATION AND THEIR RISK FACTORS

OBJECTIVES: To determine prevalence of hepatitis B and C Viral infections and risk factors in patients undergoing general surgery. METHODS: This descriptive case series was carried out in 436 patients who attended out-door patient and emergency departments and undergoing general surgery at West Surgical Ward, Mayo Hospital Lahore using a pre-tested selfadministered questionnaire. Data for demographic variables for frequencies and associations between variables were analyzed on SPSS version 12.0. Significance level was p 0.05. RESULTS: Out of total 436 respondents, 117 (26.8%) were positive for HCV and 46 (10.55%) for HBV infections. Out of 117, 64 (54.7%) respondents were males and 53 (45.3%) were females. Mean age of respondents was 33.3 ± 3.8 with the highest number (30.3%) were in the age group between 30 to 40 years of age.(Table 1) The seropositivity for HCV differ by gender, is more in males(p 0.004). CONCLUSION: Prevalence of Anti-HCV is more common than HBsAg in our study population. Shaving faces and armpits from barber, previous history of transfusion and surgery, nose/ear piercing were observed as common risk factors among anti-HCV and HBsAg positive patient in General surgical procedure.