title: Seroprevalence of anti-hepatitis C virus (anti-HCV) antibody and HCV-related risk in injecting drug users in northern India: comparison with non-injecting drug users.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The current study was designed to study seroprevalence of anti-hepatitis C virus (anti-HCV) antibody in injecting drug users (IDUs) and non-injecting drug users (non-IDUs) with or without other HCV-related risk behaviour.
  
  
  METHODS
  Serum of male inpatients of the three groups in a tertiary-care hospital in north India was screened for anti-HCV antibody by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for two years. The presence of risk behaviours or risk exposure (sharing needle or other drug-related paraphernalia, multiple sex partners, unprotected sex with commercial sex workers/strangers, and blood transfusion) was assessed with the risk questionnaire.
  
  
  RESULTS
  One-hundred and three IDUs (n=103), non-IDUs with other HCV-related risk (n=124) and non-IDUs without other HCV-related risk (n=245) were screened (mean age 31.2 (SD=7.92), 32.6 (SD=9.98) and 36.9 (SD=10.63) years, respectively). Almost 46% of the IDUs, 8.1% among the non-IDUs with HCV-related risk and 3.7% among the non-IDUs without HCV-related risk were seropositive for anti-HCV antibody (p<0.001). A majority of the IDUs have been actively using the drugs (76.7%) for a mean duration of 60.9months (SD=57.05) and a majority used injection buprenorphine in combination with promethazine and/or diazepam (70.9%). Other HCV-related risk behaviours were significantly more common among non-IDUs with other HCV-related risk behaviour.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Seroprevalence of anti-HCV antibody is high in IDUs compared to non-IDUs, and it is primarily related to injecting risk behaviour.
authors: Department of Psychiatry, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh, India. db_sm2002@yahoo.com
authors: Debasish
authors: D
authors: Basu
authors: Vineet
authors: V
authors: Kumar
authors: Arun Kumar
authors: AK
authors: Sharma
authors: Pawan Kumar
authors: PK
authors: Barnwal
authors: Surendra Kumar
authors: SK
authors: Mattoo
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001803:Blood Transfusion / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D018937:Hepatitis C Antibodies / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D016485:Needle Sharing / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012307:Risk Factors; D012309:Risk-Taking; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies; D012747:Sexual Partners; D015819:Substance Abuse, Intravenous / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000821:virology; D047568:Unsafe Sex / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
chemical_list: D018937:Hepatitis C Antibodies