ABSTRACT
The object of this study was to investigate the prevalence of Hepatitis C virus (HCV)
by second-generation testing and to determine the effectiveness of risk factor-guided
screening. We performed a prospective study of HCV exposure determined by second-generation
enzyme-linked immunoadsorbent assay (ELISA) and confirmed by radioimmunoblot assay
(RIBA). Risk factors (RF) were interpreted by univariate and multivariate analyses.
Eight hundred eighty-six consecutive patients were tested for HCV over a 1-year period;
34 women tested positive for HCV and 32 were confirmed by RIBA (prevalence 3.6%).
Forty-nine percent of women had at least one RF. Age, intravenous drug use, history
of hepatitis strongly correlated with HCV (p <0.001). RF screening had a sensitivity of 81%. Twenty-one percent of women with
HCV had no RF. The absence of any RF had a negative predictive value of 98.7%. RF
screening is effective in identifying patients at low risk for HCV.
Keywords
Hepatitis C - Hepatitis C epidemiology - Hepatitis C screening
