title: Hepatitis C Seroprevalence and Risk Factors in Adult Population of Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province of Iran in 2013.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Hepatitis C is the second leading viral infectious disease worldwide. In Iran, hepatitis C is the most important and prevalent reason for chronic hepatitis and liver cirrhosis in the multi transfused population.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This study was conducted to determine seroprevalence and burden of hepatitis C in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province and to plan for controlling it.
  
  
  METHODS
  For this analytical, population-based study, 3000 samples were older than 15 years old and were enrolled from urban and rural areas of Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province, southwest Iran per cluster sampling. Written informed consent was obtained from the participants and the demographic data, transmission route and risk factors were collected after blood sample taking. Hepatitis C virus antibody (HCV Ab) and western blotting were consecutively run.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data analysis was done by SPSS 19 using descriptive statistics, and chi-square test, Fisher's exact test, and logistic regression Ap value of 0.05 was considered as the level of significance.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The prevalence of HCV Ab was obtained 1.4% (95% CI, 0.95-1.7) and that of positive hepatitis C by western blotting 0.9% (95% CI, 0.65-1.3). The prevalence in men (1.2%) was obtained two times higher than women. The highest prevalence was obtained in 35 to 44-year-old population (2%). The prevalence was higher in married individuals and less in higher educated. History of hospital stay, first degree relatives infected with HCV, jaundice, history of blood transfusion, tattoo, outpatient surgery, imprisonment, contact with the infected, intravenous (IV) drug abuse, and smoking had significant association with disease prevalence (p<0.05). The highest odds ratio was obtained for history of IV drug abuse (OR=38.2, 95% CI, 14.06-103.9) followed by imprisonment (OR=8.9, 95% CI, 2.97-26.6). However, by logistic regression only history of IV drug abuse was obtained as significant (p<0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Hepatitis C is growing and emerging as the most prevalent chronic, viral hepatic disease, so further consideration of risk factors and routes of transmission is crucial for appropriate planning for, and preventing, treating, and controlling hepatitis C. IV drug abusers as the most important group need special consideration and surveillance in order to cut infection chain and decrease the disease incidence.
authors.affiliation: Faculty, Department of Community Medicine, Shahrekord University of Medical Sciences , Shahrekord, IR Iran .
authors.forename: Masoumeh
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Moezzi
authors.affiliation: Faculty, Department of Infectious Diseases, Shahrekord University of Medical Sciences , Shahrekord, IR Iran .
authors.forename: Reza
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Imani
authors.affiliation: Faculty, Department of Microbiology, Shahrekord University of Medical Sciences , Shahrekord, IR Iran .
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Karimi
authors.affiliation: Central Disease Control Unit, Shahrekord University of Medical Sciences , Shahrekord, IR Iran .
authors.forename: Behrouz
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Pourheidar
keywords: Antibodies; Seroepidemiologic studies; Viral infectious disease