Prevalence and factors associated with hepatitis C virus infection among Myanmar blood donors.
We studied the prevalence of hepatitis C virus infection among blood donors from 3 hospitals of Central Myanmar and 7 hospitals of Lower Myanmar in the Yangon area, and analyzed the factors associated with the infection. The study period was from November, 2005 to June, 2007. A pre-tested questionnaire was used to obtain information on age, ethnic group, marital status, tattooing, body piercing, history of receiving transfusions, and liver diseases in self and in sexual partners. Data on seropositivity to hepatitis C, hepatitis B and human immunodeficiency virus infections were recorded. A total of 65,240 blood donors participated in the study. Their ages ranged from 18 years to 60 years (mean±SD=29.5±9.3). The male-to-female ratio was 6:1. The prevalence of the antibody to hepatitis C was found to be 0.95% with varying rates (0.34 to 2.03) among hospitals. Females had a slightly higher rate (1.06%) than males (0.93%) (p=0.237). Multivariate analyses revealed the following factors to be related to HCV infection:HIV infection, odds ratio (OR)=3.0 (p=0.003); history of liver disease, OR=8.9 (p=0.001);and age 30 years and above, OR=2.6 (p=0.001). We discuss the varying prevalences of HCV around the world.
Department of Medical Research-Lower Myanmar, No.5 Ziwaka Road, Yangon, Myanmar.
Myo-Khin
San-San-Oo
Khin May
KM
Oo
Kunio
K
Shimono
Norio
N
Koide
Shigeru
S
Okada
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D001782:Blood Donors; D046288:Body Piercing; D005260:Female; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology*; D018937:Hepatitis C Antibodies / Q000097:blood; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D017533:Marital Status; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D002052:Myanmar / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013653:Tattooing; D055815:Young Adult
D018937:Hepatitis C Antibodies