Address of Corresponding Author

Eur Addict Res 2006;12:151-160 (DOI: 10.1159/000092117)

  Key Words

• Injecting drug use
• Epidemiology
• Viral hepatitis C
• Seroprevalence
• Prison
• Logistic regression model

  Abstract

Aim: To determine the prevalence of, and factors associated with, hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in the population of Czech injecting drug users (IDUs). Design: Multicentric cross-sectional study. Setting: A convenience sample of injecting drug users was recruited using the snowball sampling method. Participants: Sample of 760 IDUs from 9 different Czech regions. Measurement: We used one-drop instant blood tests to determine the anti-HCV antibodies status; a structured questionnaire was completed during the interview with the researcher. We calculated the ratio of positive findings and performed univariate analyses of correlations between predictors and independent variables. Finally, we created a logistic regression model that controlled for age, region of residence, reported sharing of injection paraphernalia, and length of injection drug use and for the interaction between length of injection use and imprisonmentin order to assess the predictive value of imprisonment in an individual's history. Findings: 226 participants (29.74% of the tested sample) were found to be anti-HCV positive. After adjusting for the sensitivity of the test, the 'true proportion' was 34.97% (95% CI: 31.56-38.35). Many correlated independent variables were found in the univariate analyses. In our logistic regression model, we have found that imprisonment increases the odds of being anti-HCV positive by a factor of 4.3. Conclusion: Anti-HCV seroprevalence remains relatively low in the Czech IDUs population compared to similar populations in the developed countries. Regional differences exist in anti-HCV prevalence within the Czech Republic. The strong association of anti-HCV prevalence with imprisonment history when controlled for other potentially clinically important factors suggests the need for more effective preventive measures in Czech prisons.

Copyright © 2006 S. Karger AG, Basel

  Author Contacts

Tomas Zabransky, MD, PhD
Senior Research Fellow, Czech National Focal Point for Drugs and Drug Addiction
Office of the Government of the Czech Republic, Nabrezi E. Benese 4
CZ-118 21 Praha 1 - Mala Strana (Czech Republic)
Tel. +420 603 451 103, Fax +420 2 9615 3264, E-Mail tomas@zabransky.cz

  Article Information

Number of Print Pages : 10
Number of Figures : 0, Number of Tables : 2, Number of References : 42