Trends in the seroprevalence of hepatitis C viruses among patients received at the Centre Pasteur du Cameroun, with an indication of anti-HCV Ac serology from 2019 to 2024.
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BACKGROUND: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) remains one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide, especially in resource-limited countries. Hepatitis C is a major cause of cirrhosis, liver cancer, and death. This study aimed to determine trends in the seroprevalence of hepatitis C among patients at the Centre Pasteur du Cameroun with anti-HCV antibody serology from 2019 to 2024. METHODS: A retrospective study was conducted on patients who underwent HCV antibody testing. Plasma was analyzed for this marker using an Alinity i immunoassay kit (Abbott GmbH, Germany) during the period from 2019 to 2024. Data were entered and cleaned with Excel 2021. Binary logistic regression tests were performed using SPSS version 27. A p-value < 0.05 at a 95% confidence interval was considered statistically significant. RESULTS: A total of 31,429 participants were included in this study. The overall prevalence of anti-HCV was 13.50% (4245/31429). Anti-HCV seroprevalence was 13.48% (1857/13771) in men and 13.52% (2388/17658) in women. In this study, being over fifty-six years old (AOR 6.21; 95% CI 5.50–7.01; p < 0.001), being female (AOR 1.12; 95% CI 1.04–1.2; p = 0.002), and diagnosis in 2019 or 2020 with respective ranges (AOR 38; 95% CI 1.23–1.55; p < 0.001) and (AOR 1.15; 95% CI 1.03–1.3; p = 0.03) were significantly associated with hepatitis C seropositivity. Our study detected a high seroprevalence of hepatitis C virus antibodies, especially in women, those over fifty-six, and patients diagnosed in 2019 and 2020, who were most at risk. CONCLUSION: Serious public health measures are urgently needed to reduce the disease burden and transmission, through systematic screening of all HCV infections by confirming risk cases with PCR, and health education campaigns for the population on the dangers associated with HCV infection. A national HCV control program, backed by a sustainable funding plan, is therefore needed to accelerate the elimination of HCV in Cameroon. TRIAL REGISTRATION: The study protocol was reviewed and approved by the Regional Ethics Committee for Human Health Research of the Center (CRERSH/C) (Number: E00571/ CRERSH/C /2023) and adhered to the ethical guidelines outlined in the 1975 Declaration of Helsinki.