High hepatitis C virus seropositivity, viremia, and associated risk factors among trans women living in San Francisco, California.
PLoS One
; 16(3): e0249219, 2021.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-33784365
ABSTRACT
Trans women have been understudied in the Hepatitis C virus (HCV) epidemic, yet data suggest they may be at elevated risk of the disease. Using data collected from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) National HIV Behavioral Surveillance (NHBS) survey, we measured HCV seropositivity, viremia, and associated risk factors for HCV infection among trans women in San Francisco from June 2019 to February 2020. Respondent-driven sampling (RDS) was used to obtain a diverse, community-based sample of 201 trans women, of whom 48 (23.9%, 95% CI 17.9% - 30.0%) were HCV seropositive. HCV seropositivity significantly increased with increasing age (adjusted prevalence ratio [APR] 1.04 per year, 95% CI 1.01-1.07) and history of injection drug use (APR 4.44, 95% CI 2.15-9.18). We also found that many had HCV viremia as twelve (6.0% of the total sample, 95% CI 2.7% - 9.3%) were RNA-positive for HCV. Trans women are highly impacted by HCV and could benefit from access to regular and frequent HCV screening and treatment access. HCV screening could be offered regularly in trans-specific health services, in the community, in jails and prisons, and integrated syringe exchange programs where treatment access or referral are also available.
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Transsexualism
/
Hepatitis C
Type of study:
Etiology_studies
/
Prevalence_studies
/
Prognostic_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
/
Screening_studies
Limits:
Adult
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
Country/Region as subject:
America do norte
Language:
En
Journal:
PLoS One
Journal subject:
CIENCIA
/
MEDICINA
Year:
2021
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country: