Relation of baseline characteristics to uptake for HCV Ab testing in patients with chronically elevated liver enzymes
| Variable | Univariate analysis (χ² and Student’s t-test) | Multivariate analysis (backward regression) | ||||
| Test HCV n=1395 | No test HCV n=12 663 | P value | P value | OR | 95% CI | |
| Age first elevation AST/ALT levels (y) (mean±SD) | 54±16 | 55±16 | 0.001 | 0.034 | 1.01 | 1.00 to 1.02 |
| Number of tests with chronic elevation | ||||||
| 1 | 412 (29.5%) | 5017 (39.6%) | <0.001 | 0.006 | ||
| 2–4 | 598 (42.9%) | 5530 (43.7%) | <0.001 | 0.146 | 0.74 | 0.50 to 1.11 |
| ≥5 | 385 (27.6%) | 2116 (16.7%) | <0.001 | 0.106 | 1.51 | 0.92 to 2.47 |
| Gender (male) | 838 (60.1%) | 8643 (68.3%) | <0.001 | n.s. | ||
| Chronic alcohol abuse | 107 (7.7%) | 682 (5.4%) | 0.001 | n.s. | ||
| Drug abuse | 13 (0.9%) | 53 (0.4%) | 0.013 | n.s. | ||
| Diabetes | 401 (28.7%) | 2944 (23.2%) | <0.001 | n.s. | ||
| Overweight | 1 (0.1%) | 20 (0.2%) | 0.518 | |||
| Viral hepatitis test within pregnancy | 15 (1.1%) | 116 (0.9%) | 0.557 | |||
| Coinfection | ||||||
| HIV Ab positive | – | – | – | |||
| HbsAg positive | 50 (5.3%) | 25 (15.2%) | <0.001 | <0.001 | 0.32 | 0.19 to 0.54 |
| Test HIV (yes) | 506 (36.3%) | 281 (2.2%) | <0.001 | |||
| Test HBV (yes) | 947 (67.9%) | 165 (1.3%) | <0.001 | |||
ALT, alanine transaminase; AST, aspartate transaminase; HBsAg, hepatitis B surface antigen; HCV Ab, hepatitis C antibody; y, year.
Significant values that were used in the regression model are highlighed in bold.