Seroprevalence and risk factors of hepatitis B and C virus infections among street barbers and beauticians: a community-based study in the Eastern hemisphere of Ghana

Abstract

Background: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections remain a major public health concern across the globe. There is paucity of data on the seroprevalence of viral hepatitis among some high-risk and less-recognized populations in most developing countries like Ghana. This study was conducted to determine the seroprevalence and risk factors associated with HBV and HCV infections among street barbers and beauticians in the Eastern hemisphere of Ghana.Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted between April and June 2021 at five randomly selected district capitals in the Volta Region. Multistage sampling was employed to select 340 street barbers and beauticians. A structured questionnaire was used to elicit information from participants before collecting blood samples for the assessment of hepatitis B surface antigen and anti-hepatitis C virus. At a 95% significance level, bivariate and multivariate analyses were computed to identify associated factors of HBV and HCV using STATA version 17.0.Results: The overall seroprevalence of HBV and HCV among street barbers and beauticians was 9.7% (95% CI = 6.7–13.3%) and 4.7% (95% CI = 2.7–7.5%), respectively. Participants who had never been vaccinated against HBV (AOR = 9.65; 95% CI = 1.20–77.4; p = 0.033) or never married (AOR = 15.0; 95% CI = 3.34–67.4; p < 0.001) were more likely to be infected with HBV. Street barbers and beauticians who had no history of exposure to customers’ blood while performing their work were 93% less likely to contract HBV (AOR = 0.07; 95% CI = 0.02–0.33; p = 0.011). Participants who had a history of an injury via cut while attending to customers (AOR = 13.0; 95% CI = 2.84–59.6; p = 0.001) and those who were not married (AOR = 8.37; 95% CI = 1.05–66.9; p = 0.045) were also more likely to test positive for HCV.Conclusion: HBV and HCV infections are common among street barbers and beauticians in the Eastern hemisphere of Ghana. While the high prevalence of HBV was predicted by marital status and history of HBV vaccination and blood exposures, that of HCV was also determined by marital status and history of cut injury. Explicit guidelines on the health practices of study participants through the creation of awareness on the modes of transmission and prevention of occupation-related viral infections as well as HBV vaccination programs should be provided for these high-risk workers.