ArticleEuro surveillance : bulletin Europeen sur les maladies transmissibles = European communicable disease bulletin2026
Combined HBsAg and anti-HBc testing is required to estimate hepatitis B virus seroprevalence in a low-endemic country: findings from a nationwide population-based serosurvey, Belgium, 2020.
Article in Euro surveillance : bulletin Europeen sur les maladies transmissibles = European communicable disease bulletin, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Two Diagnostic Challenges in Hepatitis B Serology: Low HBsAg S/CO Values and Isolated Anti-HBc Positivity.Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Prevalence of hepatitis B surface antibodies and hepatitis B exposure in Belgium: results from a nationwide population-based serosurvey.BMC infectious diseases · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
BACKGROUNDThe World Health Organization aims to eliminate hepatitis B virus (HBV) by 2030 through reducing incidence and mortality. Accurate prevalence estimates are crucial to guide policies and monitor progress towards HBV elimination. However, HBV prevalence can be overestimated when relying solely on hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) because of unconfirmed or false-positive results. Robust screening algorithms to improve diagnostic accuracy and minimise false positives are required.AIMWe conducted a nationwide, population-based serosurvey to estimate HBV prevalence in Belgium by using HBsAg alone or combined with hepatitis B core antibody (anti-HBc) positivity as infection criterion.METHODSWe analysed HBsAg and anti-HBc in a total of 4,955 left-over serum samples from severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 sero-epidemiology studies in 2020. Samples were stratified per region, 10-year age band and sex. A confirmatory anti-HBc neutralisation assay was performed in discordant samples.RESULTSWe detected HBsAg in 0.75% (37/4,955) of samples, of which 62.2% (23/37) were anti-HBc-negative and showed no specific anti-HBc signal in the neutralisation assay. None of the samples from ≤ 5-year-olds (n = 87) were double-positive. Weighted analysis estimated HBsAg seroprevalence at 0.74% (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.50-1.04). However, considering double HBsAg and anti-HBc positivity, an HBV prevalence of 0.25% (95% CI: 0.13-0.42) was retained. The HBsAg/anti-HBc prevalence in ≤ 33-year-olds was lower than in older adults (0.079% vs 0.36%; p = 0.015), consistent with Belgium's vaccination policy.CONCLUSIONThis serosurvey reinforces the importance of confirmatory anti-HBc testing in HBsAg-positive samples, particularly in low-endemic countries. Incorporating anti-HBc testing improves the correctness of prevalence estimates.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.