Evidence of Prior Hepatitis B and Hepatitis A Virus Infections in an Ambulatory Geriatric Population

Ninety-five randomly selected patients attending an ambulatory geriatric medical clinic were tested for the presence in their sera of hepatitis B surface antigen and of antibody to hepatitis B and A viruses. Such evidence of past hepatitis infection was correlated with current liver function and history of having received blood transfusions. The results showed that 94% of patients had antibody to hepatitis A virus, and 32% had antibody to hepatitis B virus. Patients with abnormal liver function tests, or those with a history of blood transfusions were no more likely to have hepatitis B antibody than patients with normal liver function tests or those with no history of transfusion.