Background: Trends in the prevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection among women delivering live births may differ in rural vs. urban areas of the United States, but estimation of trends based on observed counts may lead to unstable estimates in rural counties due to small numbers.
Objectives: The objective of the study was to use small area estimation methods to provide updated county-level prevalence estimates and, for the first time, trends in maternal HCV infection among live births by county-level rurality.
Methods: Cross-sectional natality data from 2016 to 2020 were used to estimate maternal hepatitis C prevalence using hierarchical Bayesian models with spatiotemporal random effects to produce annual county-level estimates of maternal HCV infection and trends over time. Models included a 6-level rural-urban county classification, year, maternal characteristics and county-specific covariates. Data were analysed in 2022.
Results: There were 90,764/18,905,314 live births (4.8 per 1000) with HCV infection reported on the birth certificate. Hepatitis C prevalence was higher among rural counties as compared to urban counties. Rural counties had the largest annual increases in maternal hepatitis C prevalence (per 1000 births) from 2016 to 2020 (micropolitan: 0.39; noncore: 0.40), with smaller increases among less densely populated urban counties (medium metro: 0.28; small metro: 0.28) and urban counties (large central metro:0.11; large fringe metro: 0.14).
Conclusions: The prevalence of maternal HCV infection was the highest in rural counties, and rural counties saw the greatest average prevalence increase during 2016-2020. County-level data can help in monitoring rural-urban trends in maternal HCV infection to reduce geographic disparities.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/ppe.12934 | DOI Listing |
PLoS One
January 2025
Neuroscience Center, King Fahad Specialist Hospital Dammam, Dammam, Saudi Arabia.
Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) is a blood borne pathogen that affects around 200 million individuals worldwide. Immunizations against the Hepatitis C Virus are intended to enhance T-cell responses and have been identified as a crucial component of successful antiviral therapy. Nevertheless, attempts to mediate clinically relevant anti-HCV activity in people have mainly failed, despite the vaccines present satisfactory progress.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFStat Med
February 2025
Department of Statistics, University of California, Davis, California, USA.
A causal mediation model with multiple time-to-event mediators is exemplified by the natural course of human disease marked by sequential milestones with a time-to-event nature. For example, from hepatitis B infection to death, patients may experience intermediate events such as liver cirrhosis and liver cancer. The sequential events of hepatitis, cirrhosis, cancer, and death are susceptible to right censoring; moreover, the latter events may preclude the former events.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTrop Med Infect Dis
January 2025
Office of Research and Department of Healthcare Delivery & Population Sciences, University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School-Baystate and Baystate Health, Springfield, MA 01107, USA.
Limited research has examined the possible synergistic interrelationships between serious bacterial infections (SBIs) of the heart (i.e., endocarditis), bone, spine, brain, or joints (e.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Funct Biomater
January 2025
Institute for Bioscience and Biotechnology Research, University of Maryland Rockville, Rockville, MD 20850, USA.
Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a major public health concern, and the development of an effective HCV vaccine plays an important role in the effort to prevent new infections. Supramolecular co-assembly and co-presentation of the HCV envelope E1E2 heterodimer complex and core protein presents an attractive vaccine design strategy for achieving effective humoral and cellular immunity. With this objective, the two antigens were non-covalently assembled with an immunostimulant (TLR 7/8 agonist) into virus-mimicking polymer nanocomplexes (VMPNs) using a biodegradable synthetic polyphosphazene delivery vehicle.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCurr Drug Discov Technol
January 2025
Antimicrobial Resistance Research Center, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
Berberine is an isoquinoline alkaloid with strong pharmacological activity such as analgesic, antioxidant, neuroprotective, antivirus, anti-inflammatory, anti-seizure, anti-obesity, and hypolipidemic effects. Accumulated evidence indicates berberine plays an inhibitory role against infection of numerous viruses, including human immunodeficiency virus, respiratory syncytial virus, hepatitis C virus, human papillomavirus, human cytomegalovirus, and influenza virus. Berberine's antiviral action has shown promise, making it a viable option for synergistically enhancing the inhibitory effect of current antiviral medicines.
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