Epidemiology of Hepatitis C Infection in the Household Population of Puerto Rico

波多黎各家庭人口丙型肝炎感染的流行病学

• 批准号: 7277166
• 负责人: CYNTHIA MADELINE PEREZ
• 金额: $ 28.39万
• 依托单位: UNIVERSITY OF PUERTO RICO MED SCIENCES
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 至
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/7277166
• 关键词: HIV infections; Herpes simplex disease; Puerto Rican; Puerto Rico; behavioral /social science research tag; clinical research; comorbidity; drug abuse; enzyme linked immunosorbent assay; epidemiology; hepatitis C; hepatitis C virus; high risk behavior /lifestyle; household; human subject; plasma; questionnaires

Many issues regarding the epidemiology of hepatitis C infection require further investigation. These include determining the prevalence of hepatitis C in populations that are at a greater risk for infection given the high prevalence of HIV/AIDS associated with injection drug use; exploring the role of sex-related practices in transmission; and assessing the role of other potential risk factors in infection. The proposed study examines seroprevalence of hepatitis C infection and assesses sex-related practices, other risk behaviors, and patterns of co-infections that might promote transmission among the household population aged 18 to 64 years in Puerto Rico. To our knowledge, this is the first population-based study to estimate the prevalence of hepatitis C infection and investigate correlates of infection in a homogeneous population of Hispanic origin. Findings from this study can contribute to understand the burden of this infection in a Hispanic population and provide baseline data for comparison purposes with other mainland Hispanic groups that will ultimately lead to interventions that may reduce the risk of transmission of hepatitis C virus. The specific aims of the study are: 1. To estimate the seroprevalence of hepatitis C infection for the household, adult population and for specific population groups defined by age, sex, and geographic stratification regions 2. To assess the role of specific sex-related practices in hepatitis C infection, controlling for injection drug use and socio-demographic characteristics 3. To examine the role of other potential risk factors (body piercing, tattooing, non-injecting drug use, and shared use of drug paraphernalia) in hepatitis C infection, controlling for socio-demographic characteristics 4. To assess the patterns of hepatitis C co-infections with hepatitis B, HIV and herpes simplex 5. To assess the relationships between high-risk behaviors (drug use practices and sex-related practices) and hepatitis C co-infections with hepatitis B, HIV and herpes simplex The study design is based on a multistage, household probability sample of 2,000 adults selected throughout the island. Previous investigations have shown that Puerto Rican drug users have higher levels of risk behaviors than their counterparts in the U.S. mainland. Therefore, a larger prevalence of hepatitis C infection is expected in the island, with marked variations in the magnitude of the risk attributable to injection drug use, sex-related practices, and non-injection sources.

关于丙型肝炎感染流行病学的许多问题需要进一步调查。这些措施包括确定丙型肝炎在与注射吸毒有关的艾滋病毒/艾滋病高流行率情况下感染风险更大的人群中的流行率;探讨与性有关的做法在传播中的作用;以及评估其他潜在风险因素在感染中的作用。这项拟议的研究检查了丙型肝炎感染的血清阳性率，并评估了与性有关的做法，其他风险行为和合并感染的模式，这些模式可能会促进波多黎各18至64岁的家庭人口之间的传播。据我们所知，这是第一个以人群为基础的研究，以估计丙型肝炎感染的患病率，并调查感染的相关性在一个同质的西班牙裔人口。这项研究的结果有助于了解这种感染在一个 西班牙裔人群，并提供基线数据与其他大陆西班牙裔群体进行比较，最终导致可能降低丙型肝炎病毒传播风险的干预措施。这项研究的具体目标是： 1.估计家庭、成年人群和按年龄、性别和地理分层区域定义的特定人群中丙型肝炎感染的血清阳性率 2.评估特定的性相关行为在丙型肝炎感染中的作用，控制注射毒品使用和社会人口学特征 3.检查其他潜在危险因素（身体穿孔、纹身、非注射吸毒和共用吸毒用具）在丙型肝炎感染中的作用，控制社会人口学特征 4.评价丙型肝炎与B型肝炎、艾滋病病毒和单纯疱疹病毒合并感染的模式 5.评估高危行为（吸毒行为和性行为）与丙型肝炎、B型肝炎、HIV和单纯疱疹病毒合并感染之间的关系 这项研究的设计是基于一个多阶段的，家庭的概率抽样2 000名成年人选择整个岛屿。此前的调查显示，波多黎各吸毒者的危险行为水平高于美国大陆的吸毒者。因此，预计该岛丙型肝炎感染的流行率较高，注射吸毒、性相关做法和非注射来源造成的风险程度存在明显差异。