Objective. To describe the factors predictive of hepatitis A disease severity. / Design and setting. Cross-sectional study of hepatitis A cases during the recent HAV outbreak in the Montreal gay community. / Subjects. All 631 hepatitis A cases documented in the Montreal-Centre region between November 1994 and December 1996. / Outcome measures. Hepatitis A severity was operationalized as (1) the need for hospitalization and (2) a symptom severity index (vomiting, dark urine and abdominal pain). / Results. Subjects were predominantly male (84%). Homosexual behaviour was reported in 68% of cases. Prevalence of a high severity index was 8%, and 12% of cases required hospitalization. Non parenteral drug use was the only factor predictive of both hospitalization status and severity index. Our data could not establish homosexual behaviour as a determinant of disease severity. / Conclusion. Non parenteral drug users are at increased risk of suffering from a severe disease when infected with the hepatitis A virus. In addition to the current recommendation for routine vaccination of travelers and of homosexual men, drug users could benefit from immunization against this virus.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.21631 |
| Date | January 1999 |
| Creators | Richer, Faisca. |
| Contributors | Allard, Robert (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Science (Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001652463, proquestno: MQ50867, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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