Prevalence of Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C Infections and Evaluation of Related Factors in Patients in a Mental Health Hospital

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the incidence of hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections and to evaluate the factors affecting it in patients hospitalized and followed in Manisa Mental Care Hospital, which is one of the six regional mental care hospitals in Turkey. Methods: A retrospective study was planned and data of hospitalized patients between 1 January 2009 and 31 December 2009 were evaluated. Results: A total of 1343 patients were included in the study and 429 (31.9%) were females, 914 (68.1%) were males. Of the patients, 36 (2.7%) were HBsAg-positive, 410 (30.5%) were anti-HBs-positive, 213 (15.9%) were anti-HBc-positive, and 24 (1.8%) were anti-HCV-positive. According to admission diagnoses, hepatitis C ratio was found to be significantly higher in patients who had used opioids than other groups (p<0.005). Only anti-HBs were positive in 80.7% of the pediatric patients. This ratio was significantly higher than adult patients and was related to a higher vaccination ratio in pediatric patients (p=0.0001). Conclusions: In this study, although carriage rates were similar to rates in the general population in Turkey, they were lower than that of other mental institutions. These results could be related to the higher number of patients included in the study and increase in vaccination rates over the time. The results of this study are promising because of low rates of positivity, which may be a reflection of the efficiency of protective measures and extensive serological surveillance.