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.
Research Centre for Gastroenterology and Liver Diseases, Shaheed Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran. mmtaremi@yahoo.com
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Taremi
A H
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Mohammad Alizadeh
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Ardalan
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Ansari
M R
MR
Zali
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