The risk factors most associated with chronic hepatitis C virus infection in Americans aged 20-59 years are age 40-59 years, illicit drug use other than marijuana, and family income less than twice the poverty level, according to investigators from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Data from 10,941 participants in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2003-2010) show that those aged 50-59 years were 9.5 times more likely and those aged 40-49 were 6.0 times more likely to have HCV infection than 20- to 39-years-olds, reported Dr. Maxine M. Denniston and her associates (Ann. Intern. Med. 2014;160:293-300).
Survey respondents who reported lifetime drug use other than marijuana (including injection drugs) were 8.7 times more likely to have chronic HCV than those with no drug use or marijuana use only, and those with a family income less than twice the poverty level were 3.7 times more likely to have HCV than were those with incomes more than twice the poverty level, the investigators reported.
Other statistically significant risk factors include male sex (odds ratio, 1.6), non-Hispanic black race/ethnicity (OR, 1.6), and high school education or less (OR, 2.0), they said.
