Hepatitis C and B prevalence in Spanish prisons

• Published in: European journal of clinical microbiology & infectious diseases 2011-07, Vol.30 (7), p.857-862
• Main Authors: Saiz de la Hoya, P., Marco, A., García-Guerrero, J., Rivera, A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Age Distribution; Antigens; Biological and medical sciences; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; Comorbidity; Cross-Sectional Studies; Drug use; Female; Hepatitis; Hepatitis B - complications; Hepatitis B - epidemiology; Hepatitis B virus; Hepatitis C; Hepatitis C - complications; Hepatitis C - epidemiology; Hepatitis C virus; HIV Infections - complications; HIV Infections - epidemiology; Human immunodeficiency virus; Human viral diseases; Humans; Imprisonment; Infections; Infectious diseases; Internal Medicine; Male; Medical Microbiology; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Prison overcrowding; Prisoners; Prisons; Risk Factors; Risk taking; Seroepidemiologic Studies; Serology; Sex Distribution; Sociodemographics; Spain; Substance Abuse, Intravenous - epidemiology; Variables; Viral diseases; Viral hepatitis
• ISSN: 0934-9723; 1435-4373
• DOI: 10.1007/s10096-011-1166-5

Purpose The Prevalhep study seeks to determine the prevalence of factors associated with the hepatitis C (HCV) and B (HBV) virus in Spanish prisoners. Methods This was an observational, cross-sectional study which randomly selected 18 Spanish prisons to participate, with 21 prisoners per centre. Results There were 378 prisoners selected, 370 of whom had serological HCV and 342 had HBV data. The HCV population was predominantly male (91.6%), middle age (66.7% ≤ 40 years of age), of Spanish origin (60.5%), with a history of injection drug use (IDU; 23.2%), in prison