RESUMO
OBJECTIVES: To estimate the background population prevalence of hepatitis C in England and Wales, observe the prevalence over time and assess the extent of infection outside of known risk groups. METHODS: Sera from residual specimens from adult patients submitted to laboratories in England and Wales were tested for anti-HCV. Testing was carried out using a cost-effective pooling strategy. RESULTS: Although the prevalence of anti-HCV was highest in 1986 (1.07%), in the multivariable analysis, prevalence did not vary significantly between the 3 periods 1986, 1991 and 1996 (P=0.14). The prevalence of infection was higher in males than in females (P=0.0013). An age-period-cohort analysis revealed a cohort effect due to a lower HCV prevalence in the most recent birth cohorts, that is, those born between the calendar years 1971-1975 and 1976-1980. CONCLUSIONS: The majority of HCV infections in England and Wales were probably acquired before 1986. Infections in younger males identified in 1996 may signify more recent acquisition by injecting drug use.
Assuntos
Hepatite C/epidemiologia , Adulto , Fatores Etários , Estudos de Coortes , Inglaterra/epidemiologia , Feminino , Genótipo , Hepacivirus/genética , Hepacivirus/imunologia , Hepacivirus/isolamento & purificação , Anticorpos Anti-Hepatite/isolamento & purificação , Hepatite C/imunologia , Humanos , Masculino , Prevalência , Fatores de Risco , Estudos Soroepidemiológicos , Sorotipagem , Abuso de Substâncias por Via Intravenosa , País de Gales/epidemiologiaRESUMO
Cost effectiveness analyses of alternative hepatitis B vaccination programmes in England and Wales require a robust estimate of the lifetime risk of carriage. To this end, we report the prevalence of infection in 3781 anonymized individuals aged 15-44 years whose sera were submitted in 1996 to 16 microbiology laboratories in England and Wales. One hundred and forty-six individuals (3.9%) were confirmed as anti HBc positive, including 14 chronic carriers (0.37%). The prevalence of infection and carriage was higher in samples collected in London and increased with age. No increased risk of infection was seen in sera from genito-urinary (GUM) clinics. Only 15 sera positive for hepatitis B were also positive for hepatitis C. Our results confirm the low prevalence of hepatitis B in England and Wales, are consistent with previous estimates of carriage and suggest that many infections were acquired while resident outside the UK. Future prevalence studies should determine the country of birth and other risk factors for each individual in order to confirm these findings.
