Abstract
Hepatitis C is a major cause of liver failure and liver transplantation. The known risk factors of this disease include blood transfusion, injection drug use, high risk sexual behaviors, tattoos, and use of shared blades and syringes. Due to the higher risk of viral hepatitis among people in prison, this study was done to find the seroprevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) and associated risk factors in Lakan Prison in Rasht. Prisoners in Lakan Prison underwent a cross-sectional study in 2018. A questionnaire containing demographic information and risk factors was distributed to the inmates and they were asked complete them. High-risk individuals were selected and a blood sample was taken and tested. Data were collected and analyzed by SPSS18 software. Out of 2215 prisoners, 1238 people had at least one risk factor, of whom 408 individuals were selected by random sampling. One hundred inmates were positive for anti-HCV antibody, yielding a prevalence of 24.5% (95% CI: 20.4%-28.7%) of whom 42.6% were people who injected drugs and 4 cases were found positive for the hepatitis B surface antigen, yielding a 1% prevalence (95% CI, 0.2%-2%.). A history of injecting drug use (OR 4.28, 95% CI: 2.55-7.17), and previous history of imprisonment (OR 2.94, 95% CI: 1.34-6.53) had association with HCV infection. The present study shows that hepatitis C is prevalent in prisons and preventive and screening programs should be implemented with necessary training for inmates.
Highlights
Chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is responsible for liver fibrosis, cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma and is a major cause for liver transplantation in many countries.[1]
In this study, 24.5% of the high risk prisoners were infected with hepatitis C, which is much higher than the infection in the general population (0.3%).[3]
1.4 96.6 from a study conducted in 2016 in 10 provinces of Iran including Guilan which reported 8.21% prevalence in Iranian prisoners,[9] closer to an earlier systematic review published from studies between 2004–2016 with 28% prevalence,[7] and lower than another systematic review in Middle East and North Africa (MENA) in which Iran had 37.8% anti-HCV seroprevalence among prisoners.[4]
Summary
Chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is responsible for liver fibrosis, cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma and is a major cause for liver transplantation in many countries.[1]. The known risk factors of this disease include blood transfusion, injection drug use, high risk sexual behaviors, tattoos, and use of shared blades and syringes. Due to the higher risk of viral hepatitis among people in prison, this study was done to find the seroprevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) and associated risk factors in Lakan Prison in Rasht. Results: Out of 2215 prisoners, 1238 people had at least one risk factor, of whom 408 individuals were selected by random sampling. One hundred inmates were positive for anti-HCV antibody, yielding a prevalence of 24.5% (95% CI: 20.4%–28.7%) of whom 42.6% were people who injected drugs and 4 cases were found positive for the hepatitis B surface antigen, yielding a 1% prevalence (95% CI, 0.2%–2%.). Seroprevalence of hepatitis c virus among prisoners in lakan prison, north of iran, is there still a concern?. Arch Iran Med. 2021;24(10):765-770. doi: 10.34172/ aim.2021.113
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