High prevalence of hepatitis C associated with familial history of hepatitis in a small town of south Brazil: efficiency of the rapid test for epidemiological survey

ABSTRACT

This report describes a cross-sectional survey on the prevalence of hepatitis C antibodies (anti-HCV) in Tamboara, a small community in the northwest area from Paraná State, south of Brazil with a high rate of accumulated detection for HCV. Eight hundred and sixteen residents (17.87 percent from all the population), independently of the age and time living in Tamboara were included in this study by an epidemiologic questionnaire and by testing for anti-HCV. The rapid immuno-chromatographic test was applied for detection of HCV antibodies. The anti-HCV prevalence by rapid test was 4.28 percent. The median age for positive and negative test was 60.49 ± 14.14 and 41.67 ± 20.25, respectively (p < 0.001). By multivariate analysis, only familial history of hepatitis (p = 0.001; OR = 6.41; CI 95 percent = 2.08-19.78) and age (p = 0.007; OR 1.06;95 percent CI = 1.02-1.10) showed statistical significance for positive anti-HCV. The rapid test sensitivity and specificity were 100 percent and 92.7 percent respectively, with an accuracy of 95.8 percent (95 percent CI = 91-100). These findings demonstrated a high prevalence of anti-HCV in Tamboara. The familial history of hepatitis was a significant risk factor to the infection and HCV rapid test showed to be accurate and feasible for epidemiological survey.