prevalence of risk factors for hepatitis c and associated factors: a population-based study in southern brazil

Context The hepatitis C is a severe public health problem worldwide because its consequences. Studies which aim at determining the prevalence of risk factors are really important to understand the problem. Objective To estimate the prevalence and factors associated with some risk factors for the disease in a community, called Restinga, located in the city of Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil. Method This paper is based on a population-based cross-sectional study, with systematic sampling and proportional to the size of census tracts in which 3,391 adults answered a standardized questionnaire. Results The prevalence of blood transfusion among the people who were interviewed was 14.98%, 60.83% of those had it before 1993. A total of 16.16% of the people had a tattoo, 7.23% wore a piercing, 1.09% said they had already injected illicit drugs and 12.39% reported previous hospitalization. Prevalence ratios showed that tattoos were more common among young people, piercings among women and illicit drugs among men. Conclusions To summarize, the recognition of risk factors for hepatitis C enables proper screening of possible carriers of the hepatitis C virus, thus enabling a reduction in virus shedding. However, being only possible if health services are prepared to deal with hepatitis C virus, through education and public awareness.