Studies concerning the association between
arsenic exposure and hepatitis B virus (HB V)
infection have been lacking. The present study aimed to examine the association between total urinary
arsenic (TUA) and
infection of HBV. A total of 5186 participants from National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2003-2014 were included in the analysis. We used logistic regression to evaluate the association. We defined two measures of TUA. TUAI was the sum of
arsenous acid, arsenicacid,
monomethylarsonic acid and dimethylarsenic
acid. TUA2 was defined as TUA minus
arsenobetaine and
arsenocholine. The results showed that the weighted overall prevalence of HBV
infection was 6.08%. For NHANES 2003-2014, the medians (interquartile range) of TUAI and TUA2 were 5.60 μg/L (3.97-8.09 μg/L) and 4.91 μg/L (2.36-9.11 μg/L), respectively. Comparing the highest quartile to the lowest quartile after multivariable adjustment showed that the odds ratios (
ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for TUAI and TUA2 were 2.44 (1.40-4.27) and 2.84 (1.60-5.05), respectively. In conclusion, elevated urinary
arsenic was associated with the risk of HBV
infection. Further studies, especially prospective studies, are needed to confirm the causal relationship between
arsenic exposure and HBV
infection.