Predictive markers for hepatitis C virus infection among Brazilian inmates

• Autor(a) principal: Coelho,Harnoldo Colares
• Data de Publicação: 2009
• Outros Autores: Oliveira,Sabrina Alberti Nóbrega de, Miguel,Juliana Custódio, Oliveira,Maria de Lourdes Aguiar, Figueiredo,José Fernando de Castro, Perdoná,Gleici Castro, Passos,Afonso Dinis Costa
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Revista da Sociedade Brasileira de Medicina Tropical
• Texto Completo: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0037-86822009000400002
• topic: Hepatitis C; Prisons; Prevalence; Risk factors

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection has quite high prevalence in the prison system, reaching rates of up to 40%. This survey aimed to estimate the prevalence of HCV infection and evaluate risk factors for this exposure among male inmates at the Ribeirão Preto Prison, State of São Paulo, Brazil, between May and August 2003. A total of 333 participants were interviewed using a standardized questionnaire and underwent immunoenzymatic assaying to investigate anti-HCV. The prevalence of HCV infection among the inmates was 8.7% (95% CI: 5.7-11.7). The participants'mean age was 30.1 years, and the prevalence was predominantly among individuals over 30 years of age. Multivariate analysis showed that the variables that were independently associated with HCV infection were age > 30 years, tattooing, history of previous hepatitis, previous injection drug use and previous needle-sharing.