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Seroprevalence of hepatitis B and C viruses among diabetes mellitus patients in Duhok province

Background and Objective: Patients with diabetes mellitus are at high risk of developing hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections owing to frequent hospitalization and blood investigations. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of HBV and HCV infections among diabetes mellitus (DM) patients in Duhok. Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, a total of 200 patients with DM type 1 and 2 were included. Patients’ serum samples were obtained to study HBsAg, and anti-HCV assays were done by the enzyme immunoassay method. Patients diagnosed to be positive for HBsAg and anti-HCV were referred to the infectious diseases unit for further evaluation. Results: The mean age of patients was 53.33 ± 11.25 years (mean±SD). More than two-thirds of them (70.0%) were females. The crude prevalence rates of HBV and HCV in patients with T2DM were 1.5% and 1.0%, respectively. The diabetes-specific seroprevalence of infection with HBV and HCV was 1.5% and 1.0%, respectively. The study did not show that baseline and clinical characteristics are related to developing viral hepatitis infection in diabetic patients. Conclusion: The study showed a very low seroprevalence of HBsAg and anti-HCV infection in type 2 diabetic patients with no relationship with clinical information.