Seroprevalence of hepatitis E in Nahavand, Islamic Republic of Iran: a population-based study.
A 2-month community-based survey in February/March of 2003 was carried out to study the seroprevalence of hepatitis E virus (HEV) infection in Nahavand, Islamic Republic of Iran. From each of 6 urban regions of Nahavand, 304 inhabitants > or = 6 years were recruited through systematic random sampling (total 1824). Participants were tested for anti-HEV IgG using ELISA. The overall seroprevalence of HEV was 9.3% (95% CI: 8.2%-10.9%). Based on multivariate adjustment, only sex (OR = 1.61, 95% CI: 1.13-2.28) and age (OR = 1.03, 95% CI: 1.01-1.04) emerged as significant risk factors. This intermediate prevalence urges further investigations on HEV infection in the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Taremi
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M
Research Centre for Gastroenterology and Liver Diseases, Shaheed Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran. mmtaremi@yahoo.com
Mohammad Alizadeh
A H
AH
Ardalan
A
A
Ansari
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S
Zali
M R
MR
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D006508:Hepatitis Antibodies / Q000097:blood; D016751:Hepatitis E / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000276:immunology; D016752:Hepatitis E virus / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000097:blood; D007492:Iran / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D011159:Population Surveillance; D012307:Risk Factors; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies; D017678:Sex Distribution; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014504:Urban Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*
D006508:Hepatitis Antibodies; D007074:Immunoglobulin G