Prevalence of HIV and hepatitis C virus infections among inmates of Quebec provincial prisons.
BACKGROUND
To determine the prevalence of HIV and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections and examine risk factors for these infections among inmates in Quebec provincial prisons.


METHODS
Anonymous cross-sectional data were collected from January to June 2003 for men (n = 1357) and women (n = 250) who agreed to participate in the study and who completed a self-administrated questionnaire and provided saliva samples.


RESULTS
The prevalence of HIV infection was 2.3% among the male participants and 8.8% among the female participants. The corresponding prevalence of HCV infection was 16.6% and 29.2%, respectively. The most important risk factor was injection drug use. The prevalence of HIV infection was 7.2% among the male injection drug users and 0.5% among the male non-users. Among the women, the rate was 20.6% among the injection drug users, whereas none of the non-users was HIV positive. The prevalence of HCV infection was 53.3% among the male injection drug users and 2.6% among the male non-users; the corresponding values among the women were 63.6% and 3.5%.


CONCLUSIONS
HIV and HCV infections constitute an important public health problem in prison, where the prevalence is affected mainly by a high percentage of injection drug use among inmates.
Unité de recherche en santé des populations, Centre hospitalier universitaire de Québec, Québec, Que.
Céline
C
Poulin
Michel
M
Alary
Gilles
G
Lambert
Gaston
G
Godin
Suzanne
S
Landry
Hélène
H
Gagnon
Eric
E
Demers
Elena
E
Morarescu
Jean
J
Rochefort
Christiane
C
Claessens
D000328:Adult; D015897:Comorbidity; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D018671:Needle-Exchange Programs; D015995:Prevalence; D011330:Prisons / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011792:Quebec / Q000453:epidemiology; D012307:Risk Factors; D012309:Risk-Taking; D017678:Sex Distribution; D012725:Sexual Behavior / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*