Young-Hee Ju¹, Hai-Rim Shin¹, Jin-Kyoung Oh¹, Dong-Il Kim², DuK-Hee Lee³, Byeong-Kweon Kim⁴, Jung-Il Kim⁵, and Kap-Yeol Jung⁵. (1) Division of Cancer Control & Epidemiology, Research Institute, National Cancer Center, Korea, 809 Madu-dong, Ilsan-gu Goyang-si, 411-769, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea, 82-31-920-2153, yhjusi@ncc.re.kr, (2) Kangbuk Samsung Hospital, Sungkyunkwan University, 108 Peong-dong Jongno-Gu, Seoul, South Korea, (3) College of Medicine, Kyungpook National University, 1370 Sankeok-dong Buk-gu, 702-701, Daegu, South Korea, (4) College of Medicine, Korea University, Anam-dong Sunbuk-ku, Seould, South Korea, (5) College of Medicine, Dong-A University, 3-1 Dongdaesin-don seo-gu, Busan, South Korea

Object: To investigate the prevalence of hepatitis B virus and hepatitis C virus infection and to determine associated risk factors among young adults in Busan, Korea, which is known to have a high incidence of liver cancer. Method: The study population consists of volunteer participants in a health survey in 2002, which includes 1,350 students (515 males and 835 females) with the age between 16 and 24 from three different schools in Busan. The participating students were asked to fill in a self-administered questionnaire that included lifestyle habits and risk factors of hepatitis. Sera obtained from Participants were studied for HBsAg, anti-HBs, Anti-HCV by enzyme immunoassay (EIA) method and for liver function tests. Result: Among the study subjects (N=1,350), seropositivity for HBsAg and anti-HBs was 7.9%and 69.7%, respectively. Seropositivity for Anti-HCV was 0.4%. Seropositivity for HBsAg in the subjects who did not have Hepatitis B vaccination history was 2 times (95% CI 0.98-4.18) higher than that of the subjects who had Hepatitis B vaccination history. And seropositivity for HBsAg in the subjects who had experienced sexual intercourse was 1.9 times (95% CI 1.12-3.11) higher than that of the subjects who had not. Conclusion: The present study confirms the high prevalence of HBsAg seropositivity among the study population, and sexual transmission of HBV among adolescents and young adults may occur. Further studies to evaluate the relationship between HBV vaccination and sexual transmission is needed to the young population in Korea.

Learning Objectives:

• Describe the prevalence of HBV and HCV among young adults.
• Understand the risk factors of HBV and HCV infection among young adults in Korea.
• Use this information to develop or assess HBV and HCV risk reduction interventions among young adults.

Keywords: Infectious Diseases, Hepatitis B

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.