KMID : 1188320200140050644
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Gut and Liver 2020 Volume.14 No. 5 p.644 ~ p.651
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Prevalence, Awareness, and Treatment of Hepatitis C Virus Infection in South Korea: Evidence from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey
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Kim Kyung-Ah
Lee June-Sung
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Abstract
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Background/Aims: This study aimed to investigate the epidemiology of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in the Korean general population and the awareness and treatment status of HCV infection among anti-HCV-positive persons.
Methods: We used data from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHNES) collected between 2012 and 2016. All the participants aged ¡Ã10 years in the KNHNES were tested for the anti-HCV antibody. Anti-HCV-positive persons were tested for HCV RNA and assessed for their awareness and treatment experience regarding HCV infection.
Results: The prevalence of anti-HCV was 0.66% (95% confidence interval, 0.56% to 0.78%) among Koreans aged ¡Ã10 years, representing an estimated 278,819 anti-HCV-positive persons, and 0.71% (95% confidence interval, 0.60% to 0.84%) among Koreans aged ¡Ã20 years. The prevalence of anti-HCV increased with age and had significant geographic variation. The positive rate of HCV RNA in anti-HCV-positive persons was 33.5% and increased with age. The rate of HCV infection awareness was 15.2% (35/250) among anti- HCV-positive persons and 30.5% (18/59) among HCV RNApositive persons. Among the participants, 13.5% of HCV RNA-positive persons had been treated for HCV infection.
Conclusions: The prevalence of anti-HCV among Koreans aged ¡Ã20 years was 0.71%; one-third of anti-HCV-positive persons tested HCV RNA-positive. The awareness and treatment rates of HCV infection were low among HCV-infected persons. Therefore, active measures should be taken to diagnose and treat persons unaware of HCV infection.
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KEYWORD
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Hepatitis C, Prevalence, Awareness, Therapeutics, Population surveillance
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