• Maliheh Metanat, Seyedeh Zeinab Almasi, Nahid Sepehri Rad, Seyed Mehdi Tabatabaee, and Kosar Rezaei.
• Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine Research Center, Research Institute of Cellular and Molecular Sciences in Infectious Diseases, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, Iran.
• Arch Iran Med. 2024 Jun 1; 27 (6): 298304298-304.

BackgroundOn a global scale, approximately 350 million are affected by hepatitis B, and 71 million by hepatitis C. People in custody face elevated risks for these infections. The prevalence and risk factors in Iranian prisons are insufficiently documented. The principal objective of this study was to ascertain the prevalence of hepatitis B and C, coupled with the identification of pertinent influencing factors, within the confines of Zahedan central prison, situated in the southeastern region of Iran.MethodsIn 2019, we conducted an analytical cross-sectional study involving 407 people in custody, using stratified random sampling. To definitively diagnose hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection (P<0.05), a checklist developed by the researchers, along with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) techniques, were employed.ResultsThis study comprised 406 participants (96.3% male) with a median age of 32 years (27-38). Approximately 62% were married, and a substantial proportion of the participants had low education levels (47%), unemployment (64%), and belonged to the Baloch ethnicity (64%). The overall prevalence of hepatitis C and B infections was 2.7% and 10.6%, respectively. Tattooing (adjusted odds ratio [AOR]: 2.07, 95% CI: 1.9-4.5) and marriage (AOR: 1.78, 95% CI: 1.05-3.04) were identified as risk factors for hepatitis B. Moreover, hepatitis C showed a statistically significant association with a family history of hepatitis B and C (AOR: 3.31, 95% CI: 3.93-24.64) and intravenous (IV) drug use (AOR: 7.01, 95% CI: 1.52-32.78) according to the multivariable logistic regression analysis.ConclusionThe prevalence of hepatitis B and C was higher among people in custody in Zahedan central prison. Consequently, targeted interventions are vital to address and reduce viral hepatitis burden in custodial settings.© 2024 The Author(s). This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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