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Abstract Details
High hepatitis C virus seropositivity, viremia, and associated risk factors among trans women living in San Francisco, California
PLoS One. 2021 Mar 30;16(3):e0249219. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0249219. eCollection 2021.
Christopher J Hernandez1, Dillon Trujillo1, Sofia Sicro1, Joaquin Meza1, Mackie Bella1, Emperatriz Daza1, Francisco Torres1, Willi McFarland12, Caitlin M Turner12, Erin C Wilson12
Author information
1Center for Public Health Research, San Francisco, CA, United States of America.
2Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of California, San Francisco, United States of America.
Abstract
Trans women have been understudied in the Hepatitis C virus (HCV) epidemic, yet data suggest they may be at elevated risk of the disease. Using data collected from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) National HIV Behavioral Surveillance (NHBS) survey, we measured HCV seropositivity, viremia, and associated risk factors for HCV infection among trans women in San Francisco from June 2019 to February 2020. Respondent-driven sampling (RDS) was used to obtain a diverse, community-based sample of 201 trans women, of whom 48 (23.9%, 95% CI 17.9% - 30.0%) were HCV seropositive. HCV seropositivity significantly increased with increasing age (adjusted prevalence ratio [APR] 1.04 per year, 95% CI 1.01-1.07) and history of injection drug use (APR 4.44, 95% CI 2.15-9.18). We also found that many had HCV viremia as twelve (6.0% of the total sample, 95% CI 2.7% - 9.3%) were RNA-positive for HCV. Trans women are highly impacted by HCV and could benefit from access to regular and frequent HCV screening and treatment access. HCV screening could be offered regularly in trans-specific health services, in the community, in jails and prisons, and integrated syringe exchange programs where treatment access or referral are also available.