Table 3.
Characteristics of 710 Boston Area Travel Medicine Network pre-travel participants in Group 3* and seropositivity status for IgG antibodies against hepatitis E (anti-HEV IgG)
| Characteristics | Anti-HEV IgG (+) (N = 48), N (%) | Anti-HEV IgG (−) (N = 662), N (%) | Bivariate prevalence odds ratio (95% CI) | Multivariate prevalence odds ratio (95% CI)† |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Country of birth | ||||
| United States | 38 (79) | 538 (81) | Referent | Referent |
| Other | 10 (21) | 124 (19) | 1.1 (0.6–2.3) | 0.7 (0.2–2.6) |
| Sex | ||||
| Male | 21 (44) | 306 (46) | Referent | Referent |
| Female | 26 (54) | 355 (54) | 1.1 (0.6–1.9) | 1.2 (0.5–2.5) |
| Number of highly endemic countries traveled to | ||||
| 1–2 countries | 23 (48) | 460 (69) | Referent | Referent |
| Three or more countries | 25 (52) | 202 (31) | 2.5 (1.4–4.5) | 2.7 (1.2–5.9) |
| Race | ||||
| Non-white | 2 (4) | 114 (18) | Referent | Referent |
| White | 45 (94) | 521 (82) | 4.9 (1.2–20.6) | 3.8 (0.5–30.2) |
| Age | ||||
| < 20 years | 0 (0) | 17 (3) | Excluded | Excluded |
| 20–40 years | 5 (10) | 204 (31) | Referent | Referent |
| > 40 years | 24 (50) | 203 (31) | 4.8 (1.8–12.) | 3.7 (1.3–10.2) |
| Missing | 19 (40) | 238 (36) | Excluded | Excluded |
CI = confidence interval.
*
Group 3 travelers were not born in, and never lived in, a country highly endemic for hepatitis E but traveled to a highly endemic country.
†
Multivariate analysis included 419 participants; participants with missing values for any variable and/or who were younger than 20 years of age at the time of enrollment were excluded. Hosmer and Lemeshow goodness-of-fit test showed that the model fit well (P = 0.87).