Background: Before the implementation of donor screening and the development of effective virus-inactivation procedures, persons with hemophilia (PWHs) were at risk of infection with HBV and HCV transmitted through clotting factor concentrates.
Study design and methods: Data collected from the medical records of a cohort of 2,772 males with hemophilia who resided in six states of the United States were used to examine relations between demographic and clinical characteristics and laboratory markers of past or present infection with HBV and HCV using logistic regression.
Results: Test results were available for 60 percent of the cohort. Among those tested, 30 percent were positive for markers of HBV infection and 64 percent for HCV infection. Factors associated with increased odds of positive HBV markers and HCV infection were greater severity of hemophilia, larger amounts of factor use, and HIV infection. Markers of HBV infection persisted in birth cohorts as late as 1992 and those of HCV infections in birth cohorts through 1991. Compared to same-age US males, PWHs born between 1987 and 1989 were more likely to have markers of HBV and HCV infection.
Conclusion: PWHs who received clotting factor concentrates before 1990 may be at risk for infection with hepatitis B or hepatitis C and should be tested.