Hepatitis B Surface Antigen level and its Correlation with Age, Gender, and Liver Biomarkers

Abstract

Background: Measuring the concentration of hepatitis B surface antigen (HbsAg) in HBV patients can be determined with immunoassay techniques. This study aimed to measure the HbsAg titers in chronic HBV patients and to assess its correlation with patients' ages, gender, and with the levels of liver enzymes and total serum bilirubin. Materials and Method: Fifty-eight chronic hepatitis B infected patients were enrolled in this study. Age and gender of the patients were recorded. HbsAg concentration was tested with automated Immunoanalyzer. The patients were also tested for ALT, AST, ALP, and TSB by automated chemistry analyzer. Results: All the chronic HBV patients have positive HBsAg titers above the negative cutoff (0.05U/L) with mean concentration equal to 3099.7U/L, and a range of 0.25-6005.2 U/L. The highest mean HbsAg concentration was in age group 50-59, while the least was in age group ≥60. There was weak negative insignificant correlation between HbsAg concentrations and ages of patients. Thirty one of the patients were males and 27 were females. The means of HbsAg concentrations between males and females were statistically not significant. The mean ALT concentration was 60.038U/L, for AST was 40.728U/L, for ALP was 113.722 U/L, and for TSB was 1.168mg/dl. The values of correlation coefficients (R) between HBsAg titers and the concentrations of ALT, AST, ALP, and TSB were 0.13, 0.11, 0.12, and 0.14, respectively. Conclusions: The HBsAg titers are positive among all chronic HBV patients, with a mean titer of 3099.7U/L and all of the values are below 10000.0U/L. The mean titers increase gradually with age to reach the peak in age group 50-59 years old then decline The age, gender, serum ALT, serum AST, serum ALP, and TSB all have weak insignificant correlations with HBsAg titers among chronic HBV patients. The serum ALT is the most commonly elevated liver biomarker in chronic HBV patients.