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Canadian Journal of Anesthesia, Vol 33, 167-172, Copyright © 1986 by Canadian Anesthesiologists' Society

Prevalence of Hepatitis B in Anaesthesia Personnel

DAVID N. MALM MSC MD FRCPC1, RICHARD G. MATHIAS MD FRCPC2, KENNETH W. TURNBULL MD FRCPC1, G. D. KETTYLS MD FRCPC3, and L. C. JENKINS MD FRCPC1

1 Department of Anaesthesia, University of British Columbia
2 The Department of Health Care and Epidemiology, University of British Columbia
3 The Virology Service, Provincial Laboratories of British Columbia

Address correspondence to: Dr. D.N. Malm, Department of Anaesthesia, Vancouver General Hospital, 855 West 12th Avenue, Vancouver, B.C. V5Z 1M9.

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection, an occupational risk to anaesthetists, varies widely in incidence throughout the world. This study was undertaken to define the prevalence of previous HBV infection in anaesthesia personnel in the teaching hospitals of metropolitan Vancouver. Participants donated a blood sample and completed a questionnaire. Overall participation rate was 90.4 per cent. No participants were HBV carriers. Ten of 83 anaesthetists (12 per cent) had antibodies to HBV while all anaesthesia residents were seronegative. Anaesthetists with HBV antibodies tended to be either older or foreign born. Standard precautions taken by anaesthetists such as use of preoperative questioning of a patient's hepatitis status or the use of gloves when handling body fluids of a suspected or proven HBV carrier could not be shown to affect this seropositivity rate. This study, consistent with others, suggests that anaesthetists are at risk for acquiring HBV infection from occupational exposure. This risk appears to be somewhat less than that for surgeons, dentists, and staff of dialysis and urban emergency units.

Key Words: LIVER: Hepatitis B • HEPATITIS B: risk factors, Hepatitis B vaccine, occupational exposure, anaesthesia






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Copyright © 1986 by the Canadian Anesthesiologists' Society.