Hepatitis C risk factors
|
Hepatitis C |
|
Diagnosis |
|
Treatment |
|
Hepatitis C risk factors On the Web |
|
American Roentgen Ray Society Images of Hepatitis C risk factors |
|
Risk calculators and risk factors for Hepatitis C risk factors |
Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]; Associate Editor(s)-In-Chief: Yazan Daaboul, Serge Korjian
Overview
The most potent risk factor in the development of hepatitis C is intravenous drug use. Other risk factors include occupational exposure to blood, sexual intercourse with infected individuals, multiple blood transfusions prior to 1992, and HIV infection.
Risk Factors
Percutaneous exposure to blood is the primary mode of HCV transmission. The following are the most important risk factors for HCV infection:[1][2]:
- Injecting drug use is the most important risk factor nowadays
- Transfusion of blood and blood products, especially before 1992
- Unsafe therapeutic injections, especially in hemophilia patients prior to 1987
Other, less important risk factors include:[1]
- Hemodialysis
- Solid organ transplantation from infected donors
- Occupational exposure to blood, such as contaminated needle sticks
- Birth to infected mother in cases of detectable maternal HCV PCR at delivery
- Sexual intercourse with infected partner
- Sexual intercourse with multiple partners
- HIV infection
- Tattoo or piercing with infected needle sticks
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Alter MJ (2007). "Epidemiology of hepatitis C virus infection". World J Gastroenterol. 13 (17): 2436–41. PMID 17552026.
- ↑ Kaplan, David E. (2020). "Hepatitis C Virus". Annals of Internal Medicine. 173 (5): ITC33–ITC48. doi:10.7326/AITC202009010. ISSN 0003-4819.