Introduction: Hepatitis is the most prevalent disease of liver, which is caused by different viruses, drugs, and other etiologic agents. Hepatitis C virus infection is one of the most important blood- borne viral hepatitis infections. Taking into consideration its considerable prevalence among injective drug users, assessment of the HCV infection status among prisoners is of special importance.

Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out in prisons of 10 cities or provinces of Iran to determine the prevalence of contamination with HCV. Results of 8630 blood sample tests from prisoners who had been in prison for at least three months were studied and prevalence of contamination with HCV and its determinants like age and injective drug abuse were investigated.

Results: Frequency of contamination with HCV varied from 7.8% to 67.9% in prisons. Overall prevalence of contamination with HCV was 37.85% (95% CI: 36.8%-38.9%) in the studied prisons. There was an increase in percent of HCV disease with increase in age in almost all groups, and rate of contamination was significantly higher in age group of more than 30 years. There was also a significant relation between injective drug use and increase in prevalence of contamination with HCV.

Conclusion: Altogether, the results show that the prevalence of HCV is increasing among the Iranian prisoners. Since the high-risk behavior groups like the injective drug users are aggregated in prisons and standard precautions are not practiced, regular case finding, preventive measures, and facilitation of access of this high-risk population to treatment are recommended.

Hakim Research Journal 2008 11(1):1-8.