Hepatitis C virus infection: surveillance report from China Healthcare-associated Infection Surveillance System in 2020

Abstract:

Objective To investigate the infection status and changing trend of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in hospitalized patients in medical institutions, and provide reference for formulating HCV infection prevention and control strategies. Methods HCV infection surveillance results from cross-sectional survey data reported to China Healthcare-associated Infection (HAI) Surveillance System in 2020 were summarized and analyzed, HCV positive was serum anti-HCV positive or HCV RNA positive, survey result was compared with the survey results from 2003. Results In 2020, 1 071 368 inpatients in 1 573 hospitals were surveyed, 738 535 of whom underwent HCV test, 4 014 patients were infected with HCV, with a detection rate of 68.93% and a HCV positive rate of 0.54%. The positive rate of HCV in male and female patients were 0.60% and 0.48%, respectively, with a statistically significant difference(χ²=47.18, P < 0.001). The HCV positive rate in the 50- < 60 age group was the highest (0.76%), followed by the 40- < 50 age group (0.71%). Difference among all age groups was statistically significant (χ²=696.74, P < 0.001). In 2003, 91 113 inpatients were surveyed, 35 145 of whom underwent HCV test, resulting in a detection rate of 38.57%; 775 patients were infected with HCV, with a positive rate of 2.21%. In 2020, HCV positive rates in hospitals of different scales were 0.46%-0.63%, with the highest in hospital with bed numbers ranging 600-899. Patients' HCV positive rates in hospitals of different scales was statistically significant (χ²=35.34, P < 0.001). In 2020, 12 provinces/municipalities had over 10 000 patients underwent HCV-rela-ted test, and HCV positive rates ranged 0.19%-0.81%, with the highest rate from Hainan Province. HCV positive rates in different departments were 0.06%-0.82%, with the lowest positive rate in the department of pedia-trics and the highest in the department of internal medicine. In 2003 and 2020, HCV positive rates in the department of infectious diseases were the highest, being 7.95% and 3.48%, respectively. Followed by departments of orthopedics (7.72%), gastroenterology (3.77%), nephrology (3.57%) and general intensive care unit (ICU, 3.10%) in 2003, as well as departments of gastroenterology (1.35%), nephrology (1.18%), endocrinology (0.91%), and general intensive care unit (ICU, 0.79%) in 2020. Conclusion Compared with 2003, HCV positive rate decreased significantly in 2020. HCV infected patients were mainly from the department of infectious diseases, followed by departments of gastroenterology, nephrology and general ICU. HCV infection positive rate varies with gender, age, and region.