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Crowley Desmond, Lambert John S, Betts-Symonds Graham, Cullen Walter, Keevans Mary, Kelly Enda, Laird Eamon, McHugh Tina, McKiernan Susan, Miggin Sarah Jayne, Murphy Carol, Murtagh Ross, O'Reilly Deirdre, Tobin Ciara, Van Hout Marie Claire. The seroprevalence of untreated chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and associated risk factors in male Irish prisoners: a cross-sectional study, 2017. Euro Surveill. 2019;24(14):pii=1800369. https://doi.org/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2019.24.14.1800369
Introduction
Data on chronic hepatitis C (HCV) infection prevalence in European prisons are incomplete and impact the public health opportunity that incarceration provides.
The study aimed to estimate the seroprevalence of untreated chronic HCV infection and to identify associated risk factors in an Irish male prison.
A cross-sectional study was conducted involving a researcher-administered questionnaire, review of medical records and HCV serology.
Of 422 prisoners (78.0% of the study population) who participated in the study, 298 (70.6%) completed the questionnaire and 403 (95.5%) were tested for HCV antibodies. Of those tested, 92 (22.8%) were HCV antibody-positive, and of those, 53 (57.6%) were HCV RNA-positive, 23 (25.0%) had spontaneous clearance, 16 (17.4%) had a sustained viral response, 10 (11.0%) were co-infected with HIV and six (6.0%) with HBV. The untreated chronic HCV seroprevalence estimate was 13.1% and the seroprevalence of HCV among prisoners with a history of injecting drug use (IDU) was 79.7%. Risk factors significantly associated with past HCV infection were IDU (p < 0.0001), having received a prison tattoo (p < 0.0001) or a non-sterile community tattoo (p < 0.0001), sharing needles and other drug-taking paraphernalia (p < 0.0001). Small numbers of prisoners had a history of sharing razors (n=10; 3.4%) and toothbrushes (n=3; 1.0%) while incarcerated. On multivariable analysis, history of receiving a non-sterile community tattoo was the only significant risk factor associated with HCV acquisition (after IDU was removed from the model) (p = 0.005, β = 0.468).
The level of untreated chronic HCV infection in Irish prisons is high, with IDU the main associated risk.
The full article can be found here: https://www.eurosurveillance.org/content/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2019.24.14.1800369#html_fulltext