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Published on: March 13, 2015
Screening for viral hepatitis among male non-drug-abuse prisoners
Kuan-Fu Liao1, Shih-Wei Lai, Wu-Long Chang
1Department of Internal Medicine, Taichung Prison, and Department of Surgery, China Medical University Hospital, Taiwan.
Objective:
To describe the prevalence of hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and the associated risk factors in a prison population.
Material And Methods:
In this cross-sectional study, from November 2004 to February 2005, all 297 newly sentenced prisoners (mean age 37.5+/-11.7 years, age range 16-69 years), who had never used illicit drugs received routine blood check-ups and completed a face-to-face interview. Hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and anti-HCV antibodies were tested using the t-test, chi-square test, and logistic regression.
Results:
Among the 297 subjects, 13.1% were positive for HBsAg, 8.4% were positive for anti-HCV, and 1.7% were positive for combined HBsAg and anti-HCV. Logistic regression analysis demonstrated that tattooing (odds ratio=2.24, 95% CI=1.03-4.88) and an elevated alanine aminotransferase (ALAT) level (odds ratio=4.10, 95% CI=1.61-10.40) were independently related to HCV infection.
Conclusions:
Screening of HBV and HCV infection in prison populations remains necessary. Tattooing and elevated ALAT level are identified as the related factors of HCV infection.
