Low Body Mass Index Does Not Correlate with Hepatitis B Surface Antigen Infection in Female Adolescents

Background and Objective: Healthy body weight is an important indicator towards prevention of diseases. In the north western part of Nigeria, there is dearth of data on the prevalence of HBV infection among female adolescents. This study was therefore, carried out to determine the effect of body mass index on the sero-positivity of hepatitis B surface antigen amongst boarding school female adolescent students from a north western geopolitical zone.
Methods: Hepatitis B surface antigen was tested in 192 apparently healthy female adolescent students in boarding secondary schools across the metropolitan area of Kano State, Nigeria by parallel diagnostic methods using a Micropoint and EGENS rapid diagnostic test kits (Lot: HBsAg 1301; 1125 USA).
Result: The HBsAg sero-positivity of 41.70% was recorded for the 12-14 and 15-17 years and 16.70% for 18-20 year age groups respectively. Sero-positivity does not significantly (p=0.05) increase with age of the participants. The study revealed that HBV sero-positivity is higher (58.33%) among the underweight (BMI: <18.5) female students, followed by 33.33% in their normal (BMI: 18.5-24.9) and 8.33% in overweight (BMI: 25-30) counterparts. However, no association (r = 0.00) was found between low BMI and HBsAg infection.
Conclusion: This study indicated no association between the incidence of HBsAg infection and the low BMI (underweight) among female adolescents. We recommend a fervent need from government and Non-governmental organisation for mass enlightenment campaign, screening and immunization focusing mainly adolescents to arrest this public health problem.