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

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. 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 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. 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). 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.