Assessment of the duplicate notifiable reporting of hepatitis B infection in Zhejiang province, China, 2005-2015

Our results demonstrated that the duplicated reporting of HBV infection is common in Zhejiang, China, which has contributed to a higher HBV infection prevalence than its real value. Some characteristics might affect the probability of duplicate reporting, including sex, occupation, place of residence, HBV type, and hospital type. These findings indicated the strong need to improve the data collection, deletion of duplications, and HBV classification during HBV surveillance, in order to obtain an accurate estimate of HBV disease burden in China. We also suggest establishing a specialized system to achieve high-quality HBV infection surveillance effectively and practically.