Association of hepatitis B surface antigen seropositivity and hepatitis B surface antibody seropositivity with diabetes: a cross-sectional study based on two Chinese populations in Guangdong, China

OBJECTIVES: To examine whether hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) seropositivity and hepatitis B surface antibody (HBsAb) seropositivity were associated with the presence of diabetes in two population-based studies in southern China, the Guangzhou Biobank Cohort Study (GBCS) and the Major Infectious Disease Prevention and Control (MIDPC) study. DESIGN: A cross-sectional study. SETTING: The GBCS was conducted among a community social and welfare organisation with branches in all 10 districts of Guangzhou. The MIDPC was conducted among the community residents in two districts of Guangzhou and three districts of Zhongshan. PARTICIPANTS: 4947 participants from the GBCS and 4357 participants from the MIDPC were included in this study. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: Type 2 diabetes was the main study outcome, which was diagnosed by fasting blood glucose ≥7.0 mmol/L, and/or self-reported history of diabetes. RESULTS: After adjusting for age, sex, education, occupation, smoking status, alcohol use, physical activity and body mass index, we found no association of HBsAg seropositivity in GBCS or MIDPC (OR=1.12, 95% CI 0.74 to 1.69, and OR=0.83, 95% CI 0.59 to 1.17, respectively), and HBsAb seropositivity (OR=0.85, 95% CI 0.65 to 1.12, OR=1.00, 95% CI 0.86 to 1.16, respectively) with the presence of diabetes. Null associations were found for analysis pooling GBCS and MIDPC data after similar adjustment. The adjusted OR for the associations of HBsAg seropositivity and HBsAb seropositivity with the presence of diabetes in the pooled sample was 0.91 (95% CI 0.70 to 1.19) and 0.98 (95% CI 0.86 to 1.12), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Taking advantage of data from two large cross-sectional studies, we found no association of serological status of HBsAg and HBsAb with the presence of diabetes or glucose measures.