Seroprevalence of hepatitis A virus infection in persons with HIV infection in Taiwan: implications for hepatitis A vaccination.

Summary Objectives To retrospectively determine the prevalence of anti-hepatitis A virus (HAV) antibody in HIV-positive persons with different routes of HIV exposure and to describe its characteristics in order to guide vaccination policy. Methods The prevalence of anti-HAV antibody was compared between 1580 HIV-positive persons seeking medical attention and 2581 HIV-negative controls seeking health check-ups, who had undergone anti-HAV tests between 2004 and 2007. Comparisons were also made among groups of the HIV-positive patients who had acquired HIV via different routes of transmission. A multivariate logistic regression model was built to identify independent variables associated with anti-HAV seropositivity. Results The overall prevalence of anti-HAV antibody was 60.9% in the HIV-positive and 48.0% in the controls ( p Conclusion Our findings suggest that age groups to be targeted for HAV vaccination vary with the different routes of HIV exposure.