Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) Prevalence in Special Populations and Associated Risk Factors: A Report From a Tertiary Hospital.

BACKGROUND: With the advent of highly effective anti-hepatitis C virus (HCV) drugs, efforts to identify infected cases, high-risk groups, and associated risk factors have become the focus of current control measures.

OBJECTIVES: To determine the prevalence of the HCV antibody among diabetics and patients with lymphoproliferative disorders (LPD) who presented to the outpatient clinics of a university hospital and its associated risk factors.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: Consecutively consenting patients who had been previously diagnosed with diabetes mellitus and LPD at the outpatient department of the Lagos State University teaching hospital were recruited. A case record form was used to extract their demographics and physical examination findings as well as any risk factors for HCV infection; blood was also drawn to run a serological assay for the HCV antibody. All data were collated and analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 20. Student T-test, Chi square, and logistic regression were some of the inferential statistics used in addition to descriptive statistics.

RESULTS: In all, 438 patients (405 diabetics and 33 patients with LPD) were recruited. Their ages ranged from 17 - 87 years with a mean + Standard deviation of 59.61 + 11.859 years. The prevalence of hepatitis C among the diabetic subgroup was 0.7%, while the antibody was present in 9.1% of the LPD patients. The occurrence of the HCV antibody was, however, not significantly associated with age, sex, educational level, or marital status (P > 0.05). Having multiple sexual partners was identified as the only significant risk factor for hepatitis C (OR = 9.148; P = 0.017).

CONCLUSIONS: This survey suggested that a higher HCV prevalence exists in this population than is currently reported in the general population, and having sex with multiple partners was a risk factor for HCV infection.