A Hospital-based Retrospective Study on Frequency and Distribution of Viral Hepatitis

BACKGROUND: Viral hepatitis is a major public health problem throughout the world. It is the inflammation of the liver due to the infection of any of the five main hepatic viruses A to E and it affects the liver through different modes of transmission. This study mainly aims at the frequency and distribution of viral hepatitis based on age and sex during a time period of 5 years. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This is a hospital-based retrospective study of 5 years at a tertiary level hospital in Kerala state in India. Medical records department of the hospital follow the guidelines of International Classification of Diseases-10 for coding the diseases. The data on frequency and distribution of viral hepatitis based on age and sex during a period of 5 years from April 2005 to March 2010 were collected and analyzed and ‘z’ test was used for finding out the difference in proportions. RESULT: Out of 818 cases, 76.03% were males and 23.96% were females. The preponderance of males was apparent in all types of viral hepatitis infection. The high risk groups were the adults in the age group of 20-39 years. The main cause in the present study was hepatitis E virus (HEV) and followed by hepatitis A virus (HAV). Of total viral hepatitis cases, 31.54% were due to HAV, 6.35% hepatitis B virus, 0.85% hepatitis C virus and 61.24% were due to HEV respectively. In the present study, there was no case of hepatitis D virus has reported. The case fatality rate of viral hepatitis in the present study was minor than 1% (0.98%); whereas males were 0.96%; females of 1.02%. CONCLUSION: Taking the safety measures including vaccination and proper management of waste materials are the only solution to control or eradicate this infection.