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HCV prevalence among Hispanics varies by group
New findings indicate that the prevalence of hepatitis C varies widely among Hispanic/Latino groups in the United States.
In Puerto Rican men, for example, the prevalence is 11.6% vs. 0.4% among men from South America, a more than 10-fold difference, according to the report published in The Journal of Infectious Diseases.
“Until now, national health surveys that assessed the prevalence of hepatitis C among US Hispanics have looked only at Mexican Americans,” Mark Kuniholm, PhD, assistant professor of epidemiology and population health at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, said in a press release. “As a result, no one knew whether the rates were higher or lower in other Hispanic populations. Our data suggest that it’s not appropriate to lump all US Hispanics into a single, broad at-risk group.”
Mark Kuniholm
Kuniholm and colleagues studied two populations of US Hispanic/Latino adults: 3,210 from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2007-2010 and 11,964 from the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos (HCHS/SOL). Among the NHANES cohort, 52% were male and the median age was 36 years, and in the HCHS/SOL cohort, 40% were male and the median age was 47 years.
In the NHANES cohort, the prevalence of HCV was 1.5%, and in the HCHS/SOL cohort, the prevalence was 2%. In both, the prevalence was higher in men, and men aged 40 to 69 years had the highest prevalence. According to Hispanic/Latino background, the highest prevalence was 11.6% in Puerto Rican men and the lowest, at 0.4%, among South American men. The rates were 1.9% for Mexican, 1.5% for Dominican, 1% for Central American and 0.8% for Cuban men. The rates of HCV among Hispanic women were lower, and the highest prevalence was 3.9% among Puerto Rican women.
“Our findings strongly support the need for community-based campaigns to increase testing and treatment in the Hispanic population,” Kuniholm said. “Outreach efforts should be redoubled in communities with large numbers of people of Hispanic background and a high prevalence of the disease. In Miami, where the Hispanic population is mostly Cuban, the cost-effectiveness of extra screening may be less than in the Bronx or Chicago, where there are large Puerto Rican communities. Extra efforts to increase screening may be warranted in those communities.”
Disclosure: Kuniholm reports no relevant financial disclosures.