|
|
||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||
LIVER |
1 Scottish Centre for Infection and Environmental Health, Glasgow, UK, and Public Health and Health Policy Section, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK
2 Scottish Centre for Infection and Environmental Health, Glasgow, UK
3 Regional Virus Laboratory, Gartnavel Hospital, Glasgow, UK
4 Scottish National Neonatal Screening Laboratory, Glasgow, UK
Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Ms S J Hutchinson
Scottish Centre for Infection and Environmental Health, Clifton House, Clifton Place, Glasgow G3 7LN, UK; sharon.hutchinson{at}scieh.csa.scot.nhs.uk
Objectives: (A) To examine the prevalence and demographic characteristics of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection among childbearing women in Scotland; and (B) to determine the extent of maternal HCV infection diagnosed prior to birth.
Methods: (A) Residual dried blood spot samples from routine neonatal screening, collected throughout Scotland during March-October 2000, were unlinked from identifiers and tested anonymously for HCV antibodies; and (B) electronic record linkage of Scotlands databases of births and diagnosed HCV infections was performed.
Results: (A) Of 30 259 samples, 121 were enzyme linked immunosorbent assay repeat reactive and 88 of these were confirmed as anti-HCV positive in the recombinant immunoblot assay, representing a seroprevalence of 0.290.40%. HCV seroprevalence was high among 2529 year olds (0.40.57%), in high deprivation areas (0.921.07%), and in Greater Glasgow (0.830.96%) and Grampian (0.380.62%). Adjusted relative risk for HCV infection was highest among residents in high deprivation areas of Glasgow (7.2 (95% confidence interval 2.025.5)). (B) Of 121 HCV infections found among women at delivery, 24% and 46% were estimated to have been diagnosed prior to pregnancy and birth, respectively.
Conclusions: HCV prevalence among Scottish childbearing women is consistent with that expected from injecting drug use. Based on reported rates of mother to child transmission, 811 paediatric infections are expected per annum. Diagnosis in only 24% of infected women prior to pregnancy indicates the extent to which HCV goes unrecognised in the injecting community. The current HCV screening approachto test only those with a history of injecting drug use (or other risk factors for infection)identifies approximately a quarter of previously undetected infections among pregnant women.
Keywords: hepatitis C; pregnancy; deprivation; antenatal screening
Abbreviations: HCV, hepatitis C virus; IDU, injecting drug user; HIV, human immunodeficiency virus; HBV, hepatitis B virus; ELISA, enzyme linked immunosorbent assay; RIBA, recombinant immunoblot assay; SCIEH, Scottish Centre for Infection and Environmental Health; SMR, Scottish Morbidity Record
Related Article
Gut 2004 53: 475.
This article has been cited by other articles:
![]() |
E. M. F. Berkley, K. K. Leslie, S. Arora, C. Qualls, and J. C. Dunkelberg Chronic Hepatitis C in Pregnancy Obstet. Gynecol., August 1, 2008; 112(2): 304 - 310. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
J G Williams, S E Roberts, M F Ali, W Y Cheung, D R Cohen, G Demery, A Edwards, M Greer, M D Hellier, H A Hutchings, et al. Gastroenterology services in the UK. The burden of disease, and the organisation and delivery of services for gastrointestinal and liver disorders: a review of the evidence Gut, February 1, 2007; 56(suppl_1): 1 - 113. [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
S M Davison, G Mieli-Vergani, J Sira, and D A Kelly Perinatal hepatitis C virus infection: diagnosis and management. Arch. Dis. Child., September 1, 2006; 91(9): 781 - 785. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
R. King, S. M. Bird, S. P. Brooks, S. J. Hutchinson, and G. Hay Prior Information in Behavioral Capture-Recapture Methods: Demographic Influences on Drug Injectors' Propensity to Be Listed in Data Sources and Their Drug-related Mortality Am. J. Epidemiol., October 1, 2005; 162(7): 694 - 703. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS | REGISTER |