Abstract
BACKGROUND: The presence of an infected family member significantly increases the risk of HBV transmission, but many socio-demographic and viral characteristics of family members affect the transmission rate. OBJECTIVES: In this study, we have used data mining techniques to investigate the impact of different variables in intrafamilial transmission of HBV infection. PATIENTS AND METHODS: demographic information, viral markers, and medical history of 330 patients with chronic hepatitis B and their offspring attending a referral center in Tehran were collected. Data-mining techniques were administered to detect patterns. RESULTS: The overall transmission rate was 15.7% (5.4% and 27.3% for male and female index cases respectively). In female patients, HBe Ag positively affected the transmission rate (49% vs. 23.4%). There was a dominant change in transmission rate of female patients with negative results for Hbe Ag with HDV coinfection, where the transmission rate changed from 25% in patients with negative results for HDV Ab to 5% in those with positive results. In Hbe Ag negative male index cases, the transmission rate was 1.3% in cases with positive results for HDV Ab compared to 7% in those with negative findings. The overall transmission rate was statistically different between patients with positive and negative results for HDV Ab (P = 0.016). CONCLUSIONS: There is a minor but consistent pattern change in the presence of HDV infection which reduces familial transmission of HBV, especially in female patients with negative results for HBe Ag.