Health behaviors of Korean adults with hepatitis B: Findings of the 2016 Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

Aim: To assess the frequencies of five health-related behaviors (smoking, alcohol consumption, body weight, sleep duration, and physical activity) in Korean adults with chronic hepatitis B.

Methods: Data were obtained from the 2016 Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. In total, 5887 subjects (2568 males, 3319 females) over 19 years old were enrolled in this study. Interviews were performed to obtain information on demographic characteristics and medical conditions. A selfadministered questionnaire and medical examination were used to assess the smoking history, alcohol use, physical activity, sleep duration, and body weight of the subjects. Chronic hepatitis B was diagnosed based on detection of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg). The subjects were categorized into HBsAg positive and negative groups, and a complex sampling analysis was conducted to compare the health behaviors between these groups.

Results: Among males, the current smoking rate in the HBsAg positive group was higher than that in the negative group (45.5% 38.5%). In the positive group, the rates of monthly and high-risk alcohol use were 70.4% and 17.6% in males and 45.9% and 3.8% in females, respectively. The rate of alcohol use was similar between the two groups [ = 0.455 (males) and = 0.476 (females)]. In the HBsAg positive group, 32.3% and 49.9% of males and 26.5% and 49.6% of females were overweight and physically inactive, respectively. High-risk alcohol consumption and physical inactivity were significantly associated with self-perceived health status.

Conclusion: Our data demonstrate that a large proportion of Korean adults with chronic hepatitis B have poor health behaviors. Further studies are needed to confirm our results.