RESUMO
OBJECTIVES: Previous prison studies have shown that the female gender is associated with higher hepatitis C prevalence. However, there are few prison studies of gender differences concerning the risk factors of hepatitis C infections. We studied the prevalence of hepatitis and HIV infections and the risk factors among Finnish female prisoners. METHODS: The material consisted of 88 females and 300 male prisoners as controls. RESULTS: The prevalence of hepatitis C virus antibodies was 52%, hepatitis B surface antigen 0%, hepatitis A virus antibodies 38% and HIV antibodies 1% among women, and 44%, 0.7%, 4% and 0.7% respectively among men. Among women, 71% of the age group 16-24 had HCV. There was no significant association between gender and HCV. Women were more commonly sharing syringes/needles and had unsafe sexual habits. Among women, HCV was associated only with IDU and syringe/needle sharing whereas among men also with tattoos, cumulative years in prison and age. CONCLUSIONS: Especially young females had a high prevalence of HCV. The study showed that the risk factors are differentiated by gender. This should be taken into account when assessing earlier studies which mainly concentrate on men.