Background: Limited information about the epidemiology of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is available in hemodialysis patients in Puerto Rico. We assessed the factors associated to the prevalence of antibodies to HCV (anti-HCV) among patients receiving hemodialysis in eight dialysis centers in Puerto Rico.
Methods: A systematic sampling design was employed to select a sample of 150 hemodialysis patients (30 anti-HCV+ and 120 anti-HCV-) 21 years and older during 2005. A total of 110 (81.5%) from 135 eligible patients completed a face-to-face interview that gathered data on demographics, and self-reported risk behaviors followed by a clinical record review. Variables that were marginally or significantly associated with the prevalence of anti-HCV (p < 0.10) in the bivariate analyses were considered for inclusion into the multiple logistic regression model to estimate the adjusted prevalence odds ratio (POR).
Results: Bivariate analysis revealed that age (POR(C) = 3.65, p = 0.05), blood transfusions prior to 1992 (POR(C) = 5.13, p = 0.05), tattooing practices (POR(C) = 13.29, p = 0.04), and illegal drug use (POR(C) = 4.53, p = 0.01) were associated with anti-HCV. Multivariate analysis revealed that blood transfusions prior to 1992 (POR(A) = 11.05; p = 0.04) remained significantly associated with anti-HCV after adjusting for age, tattooing practices, illegal drug use and dialysis center. Age (POR(A) = 5.40; p = 0.06) was marginally associated with anti-HCV after adjusting for blood transfusions prior to 1992, tattooing practices, illegal drug use and dialysis center.
Conclusions: The present study showed that the profile of risk factors for the hemodialysis population was similar to the profile of risk factors reported in the general population.