Citation

Russell M, Chen MJ, Nochajski TH, Testa M, Zimmerman SJ, Hughes PS. Am. J. Public Health 2009; 99(Suppl 1): S173-9.

Affiliation

Pacific Institute for Research & Evaluation, Prevention Research Center, Berkeley, CA, USA russell@prev.org

Copyright

(Copyright © 2009, American Public Health Association)

DOI

10.2105/AJPH.2007.126383

PMID

19218181

PMCID

PMC2724935

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: We sought to investigate independent contributions of risky sexual behaviors and bleeding caused by intimate partner violence to prediction of HCV infection. METHODS: We conducted a case-control study of risk factors among patients of a sexually transmitted disease clinic with and without HCV antibodies, group-matched by age. RESULTS: Multivariate analyses indicated that Black race (odds ratio [OR] = 2.4; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.3, 4.4), injection drug use (OR = 20.3; 95% CI = 10.8, 37.8), sharing straws to snort drugs (OR = 1.8; 95% CI = 1.01, 3.0), sharing razors (OR = 7.8; 95% CI = 2.0, 31.0), and exposure to bleeding caused by intimate partner violence (OR = 5.5; 95% CI = 1.4, 22.8) contributed significantly to the prediction of HCV infection; risky sexual behavior and exposure to blood or sores during sexual intercourse did not. CONCLUSIONS: HCV risk among patients of a sexually transmitted disease clinic can be explained by direct blood exposure, primarily through injection drug use. Exposure to bleeding caused by intimate partner violence may be a previously unrecognized mechanism for HCV transmission associated with risky sexual behavior.

Language: en