Review articleA systematic review and meta-analysis of racial and ethnic disparities in hepatitis C antibody prevalence in United States correctional populations
Section snippets
Materials and methods
Reporting of this study is in accordance with the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses checklist [16].
Results
The process of identifying studies for inclusion in the review is shown in Figure 1. We reviewed 23 studies of anti-HCV prevalence in U.S. correctional populations in full. One of these studies presented data for a mixed sample of adults and juveniles [27]. We had initially specified that only adult correctional populations would be included, but as juveniles comprised only 5% of the sample (31/596), we elected to include this study to maximize the number of studies reviewed. Two articles
Discussion
This systematic review and meta-analysis suggest that anti-HCV prevalence is higher among white entrants to correctional facilities, compared to racial and ethnic minority entrants. Considering the three most populous racial/ethnic groups, anti-HCV prevalence is highest among non-Hispanic whites, followed by Hispanics, then non-Hispanic blacks; this is a reversal of the extent to which these groups are incarcerated, with the highest incarceration rates among non-Hispanic blacks, and lowest
Conclusions
Racial and ethnic minority persons appear to comprise a substantial proportion of the HCV burden in correctional settings, but methodologically rigorous epidemiologic studies are needed to better understand HCV infection among people in jails and prisons, including racial and ethnic disparities.
Acknowledgments
This study was funded in part by fellowships to SL and LD from the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC #1035149, #1041742, respectively). The National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre at the University of NSW is supported by funding from the Australian Government under the Substance Misuse Prevention and Service Improvements Grants Fund.
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