RESUMO
INTRODUCTION: hepatitis C is a public health problem worldwide, in particular in sub-Saharan Africa. The purpose of this study is to determine the seroprevalence of hepatitis C virus antibodies and associated factors during a voluntary general population screening program in Benin. METHOD: we conducted a descriptive and analytical cross-sectional study in 4 big cities of 4 different departments in Benin in July 2016. All volunteers of all ages, residing in these targeted cities, who gave their informed consent were included in the study. ImuMed HCV Rapid Diagnostic Test (Healgen Scientific LLC, USA) was used. Logistic regression analysis was also used to identify factors associated with hepatitis C virus infection. RESULTS: a total of 2809 volunteers with an average age of 25.9 ± 16.5 years (ranging from 0 to 86 years) were included in the study; 53.9% (1514/2809) of them were men and 46.1% (1295/2809) were women. More than half of the study population consisted of single (59.1%; 1612/2726); 41.3% (1074/2809) were pupils or students. VHC Seroprevalence was 1.5% (42/2809). In multivariate analysis, the variables significantly associated with anti-HCV carriage were: be 60 years old and older (aOR: 46.9, 95% CI 10.2-216.0; p<0.0001) and a history of alcoholism (aOR: 6.3; 95% CI 95% 3.3-12.1; p < 0.0001). CONCLUSION: in the general population, the seroprevalence of anti-HCV antibodies was 1.5%. HCV infection mainly occurred in people aged 60 years and older and in those with a history of alcoholism.