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Infectious diseases
Research
Prevalence of hepatitis C virus infection and its correlates in a rural area of southwestern China: a community-based cross-sectional study
  1. Wanting Cheng1,2,3,
  2. Ya Yang1,2,3,
  3. Yibiao Zhou1,2,3,
  4. Penglei Xiao1,2,3,
  5. Yan Shi1,2,3,
  6. Jianchuan Gao1,2,3,
  7. Yue Chen4,
  8. Song Liang5,6,
  9. Wuli Yihuo7,
  10. Xiuxia Song1,2,3,
  11. Qingwu Jiang1,2,3
  1. 1 Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
  2. 2 Key Laboratory of Public Health Safety, Ministry of Education, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
  3. 3 Centre for Tropical Disease Research, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
  4. 4 School of Epidemiology and Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada
  5. 5 Department of Environmental and Global Health, College of Public Health and Health Professions, University of Florida, Gainesville, USA
  6. 6 Emerging Pathogens Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, USA
  7. 7 Puge Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, Sichuan, China
  1. Correspondence to Yibiao Zhou; z_yibiao{at}hotmail.com

Abstract

Objectives Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a major public health problem in southwestern China. Our aim of the study was to assess the prevalence of HCV infection and its correlates in the Yi population of this region.

Methods A community-based survey was conducted to investigate sociodemographic characteristics and other associated factors for HCV infection in a rural area of southwestern China. Blood samples were collected and tested for antibodies to HCV. Anti-HCV positive samples were further assessed for HCV RNA.

Results A total of 2558 participants aged ≥14 years were included in our analysis. Of them, 2.8% (95% CI 2.2% to 3.5%) were positive for HCV antibody. Multiple logistic regression analysis revealed that sex (male vs female: adjusted OR (aOR)=3.30, 95% CI 1.80 to 6.07), marital status (unmarried vs married: aOR=0.27, 95% CI 0.09 to 0.80), ever using injection drug (aOR=28.65, 95% CI 15.9 to 51.64) and ever having blood transfusion (aOR=7.64, 95% CI 1.94 to 30.16) were significantly associated with HCV infection (indicated by positive HCV antibody). Stratified analysis by HIV infection found that in HIV-negative individuals, sex (male vs female: aOR=3.84, 95% CI 1.88 to 7.85), ever using injection drug (aOR=22.15, 95% CI 8.45 to 58.04), having multiple sexual partners (aOR=2.57, 95% CI 1.26 to 5.23), and ever having blood transfusion (aOR=16.54, 95% CI 4.44 to 61.58) were significantly associated with HCV infection and in HIV-positive individuals, ever using injection drug (aOR=8.96, 95% CI 3.16 to 25.38) was associated with HCV infection.

Conclusion The data suggested a higher risk of HCV infection in this area when compared with the rest of China and some unique associated factors. Rapid scale-up of targeted interventions are needed to prevent further transmission and consequent morbidities.

  • hepatitis C virus
  • Yi minority
  • drug abuse
  • HIV

This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2016-015717

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    Footnotes

    • Contributors WC participated in the conception and design of study, data collection, analysis and interpretation, and the preparation of the manuscript. YY participated in the conception and design of study and data collection, analysis and interpretation. YZ, XS and QJ conceived and designed the experiments and revised the manuscript draft. YZ, XS, PX, YS, JG, WY and XS participated in the data collection. YC and SL contributed to the critical review of manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

    • Funding This work was supported by The Fourth Round of Three-Year Public Health Action Plan of Shanghai, China (grant number 15GWZK0101).

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Patient consent Obtained.

    • Ethics approval The procedures of this study were reviewed and approved by the Ethical Review Committee of School of Public Health, Fudan University. All participants provided written formal consent.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

    • Data sharing statement The data that support the findings of this study are available from the Center for Tropical Disease Research, Fudan University, but restrictions apply to the availability of these data, which were used under license for the current study, and so are not publicly available. Data are however available from the authors upon reasonable request and with permission of the Center for Tropical Disease Research, Fudan University.