Biochemical studies of apparently 'healthy' blood donors with reference to liver function tests and immunoglobulins

Liver function tests and immunoglobulin features of apparently 'healthy' blood donors were studied. Twenty-one (9.5%) subjects with HBsAg were observed. These subjects were found to have significantly higher mean and standard deviation of total serum bilirubin, alanine and aspartate aminotransferase levels than those of a randomly selected HBsAg-negative group. Serum urea was significantly lower (p less than 0.01) in the HBsAg-positive cases. Total serum IgE (IU/ml) was significantly higher in the HBsAg-positive cases (p less than 0.01). Comparison of laboratory findings of these cases and active hepatitis HBsAg-positive subjects showed that there were more elevated abnormalities in the latter.