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Prevalence of Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, and HIV Infections Among Patients in a Psychiatric Hospital in Greece

Dr. Kakisi, Dr. Karageorgopoulos, Dr. Athanasoulia, and Dr. Falagas are affiliated with the Alfa Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Athens, Greece. At the time of the study, Dr. Kakisi was also with the Psychiatric Hospital of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece, with which Dr. Grammatikos and Dr. Papadopoulou are affiliated. Dr. Falagas is also with Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston. Send correspondence to Dr. Falagas at the Alfa Institute of Biomedical Sciences, 9 Neapoleos St., Athens 15123, Greece (e-mail: m.falagas{at}aibs.gr).

OBJECTIVE: Psychiatric patients are considered to be at increased risk of infection with hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV), or HIV. METHODS: This study retrospectively assessed the seroprevalence of these infections among psychiatric patients who were referred for laboratory testing over a 24-month period in a 415-bed tertiary care psychiatric hospital in Greece. RESULTS: More than two-thirds of the 805 unique tested patients received care in short-term hospitalization units (patients receiving treatment for substance-related disorders were excluded from this analysis). Two percent tested positive for having the hepatitis B surface antigen, 9% for the HCV antibody, and 1% for HIV. Males were more likely than females to test positive for the HCV antibody (p=.04). CONCLUSIONS: Compared with rates in the general population, in this study population the rate of HCV was more than ten times as high, the rate of HIV was three times as high, and the rate of HBV was comparable.

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