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Abstract
Background: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is the leading cause of chronic liver disease in Pakistan with about 10 million infected individuals. Therefore, we investigated the prevalence of HCV and the associated risk factors in the slum population of Islamabad Pakistan.
Material and methods: A total of 754 individuals were selected, consisting of 415 females and 339 males, between January 2024 and June 2025, using cluster random sampling method. Samples were initially screened for anti-HCV in serum by immunochromatography (ICT) and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Positive samples were further confirmed for HCV RNA by using polymerase chain reaction (PCR).
Results: The overall active prevalence of HCV in apparently healthy individuals was found 19.2% (145 individuals) in the slums of Islamabad, Pakistan. The prevalence in males and females was 49 (14.4%) and 96 (23.13%), respectively. Chi-square statistic showed that the prevalence of HCV in females was significantly higher than males with p = 0.0001. Previous history of cesarean section and piercing were significantly correlated with HCV in the females. Stepwise binary logistic regression showed that low literacy rates, gender, marital status, risk from HCV infected individual in the family, circumcision, previous history of dental surgery were significant with HCV infection.
Conclusions: High infection rates were reported in the females and illiterate population due to the lack of awareness of potential risk factors associated with HCV transmission. Therefore, we recommend the massive awareness campaign in the general population of slums about the HCV mode of transmission and its presentation.