The present study found a slightly higher prevalence rate of 13.3% among Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) subjects, compared to the global prevalence rate of around (3%) among the general population studied earlier. (Table 1).The results obtained in this study compares with the work of Nwokediuko et al., (16) in Enugu where HCV occurrence rate among diabetic patients was found to be 14.0%. Although, Ejele et al., (17) and Balogun et al., (18), obtained a prevalence of 3.0% in Niger Delta region and 0.0% in Ibadan which is lower than the result obtained in this study. Similar study conducted among diabetics by Ndako et al., (22) showed 11.0% prevalence in Jos which is also lower than the result obtained in this study, while a prevalence of 5.0% was recorded in a study carried out among diabetes patients at UITH, Ndako et al.,(19) while 5.7% prevalence was reported from India Demitrost et al.,(20) which is lower compared to the findings obtained in this study.However, Gray et al., (21) was the first to show a higher prevalence of HCV infection in T2DM patients with a prevalence of 8% among Asian patients. Differences in the incidence rate of HCV results obtained from various regions globally depict geographical diversity. The variation in these occurrence rates can be ascribed to exposure to various risk factors which are capable of enhancing the spread and transmission of this virus among individuals(19,20).
The Prevalence rate of HCV infection among males, recorded 8(4.4%) while the female subjects had 14(8.9%) Seropositivity,(Fig.1). This finding agrees with the result obtained from a similar work by Ndako et al., (22) and Gacche et al., (23) where the incidence of anti-HCV among diabetic female were higher compared to the male subjects.Increased rate of occurrence in females could be attributed to various risk factors for HCV infection, which was quite evident from the life style and history of the individuals recruited for this study(22,23).
A higher prevalence rate of 9(5.0%) was observed amongst subjects aged 41-50 ; ( Table 3;Fig.2), this result is in accordance with the findings of Tessema et al.,(24), where the sero-prevalence of HCV increases as age of participants increased and it was significantly higher in the age group of 41–50 years, which is almost similar to the results obtained by Klevens et al., (25) which showed a higher incidence rate among subjects aged 35-44,which also concurs with the result obtained in this study. The high seropositivity observed in older age group could be attributed to possible differences in social practices, parenteral exposures, decline in physical mobility and a reduced rate of medical examination compared to younger individuals thus increasing chances of transmission of infection,(26).
The result obtained in this study showed that subjects with history of multiple sexual partners contributed immensely to the spread of HCV;(Table 4;Fig.3) however, it was observed that the prevalence of HCV was higher among married subjects (15.4%), similar study carried out by Qureshi et al., (27) equally recorded a higher prevalence among married subjects. This is findings could be as a result of increased exposure to several risk factors to this infectious agent Simo et al., (28).
Educational background of the subjects screened showed that individuals with secondary education status recorded 2(8.0%) positivity compared to subjects with tertiary level of education recording 22 (14.9%) positivity, (Table 5;Fig.4). Based on the various occupation of subjects screened in this study, it was found that individuals with trading as a profession recorded 7 (10.9%) positivity compared to Civil servants who recorded 14 (21.9%) positivity.(Fig.5).This study did not observed much statistical difference in the HCV distribution with respect to Educational background and Occupation of subjects screened. However, the positivity rate among these two parameters has some important implications which warrant screening diabetic patients for HCV as this will reduce the increased risk of HCV infection in patients with T2DM and its transmission rate in our institutions of learning and possible work places, The observations recorded on Educational background and occupation of subjects screened are in agreement with the study of Ndako et al.,(19) conducted earlier.
Considering clinical risk factors,(Table 7;Fig.6) it was observed that regardless of the fact that HCV is a blood-borne virus, the sero-prevalence among individuals that had undergone blood transfusion or donation is of no statistical significant difference and this agrees with the work of Simo et al., (28).Among subjects that had history of blood donation in this study, 3 (1.7%) were found to be positive to HCV. However, it was observed that blood and blood products are potential sources of transmission for HCV infection, Ndako et al., (22). In the present study, sharing personal items such as sharp objects that may be contaminated with infected blood and tattoo practices were defined as HCV predictors. The risk of HCV continues to be a great occupational threat. Consequent upon which, blood transfusion was also identified as a predictor of HCV Infection(30).
High rate of positivity was equally observed in subjects screened for alcohol consumption, sharing of unsterilized objects also among subjects that had history of tribal marks or tattoo. Positivity rates ranged from 3.9%, 2.2% and 2.8% respectively with no statistical significant difference.(Table 8). However, participants with family history of diabetes recorded a sero-prevalence of 6.7% to HCV infection, this report is similar to the work of Muller et al., (32) where the increased incidence of HCV was closely related with family history of diabetes mellitus. A significant difference was observed among participants with family history of diabetes mellitus compared to those without,(32,33);(Table 9), this might be attributed to any of multiple sexual partners, transfusion of unscreened blood in hospitals, family history of related infections, risky behaviours such as alcohol intake and other potential unidentified routes of transmission which can only be discovered through advanced studies(34).
This study found that elevated liver enzymes; especially ALT has a direct relationship with seropositivity to HCV in the diabetic population studied, (Table 10), showing the relevance of checking for levels of liver transaminases as a screening test in diabetics. In a study by Mason, (29) more than 20% of diabetes patients with consistently elevated serum aminotransferases had evidence of HCV infection. It was also discovered that most of the anti-HCV positive diabetic patients presented with an abnormal liver function tests, a combination of hepatocellular and cholestasis pattern being the predominant biochemical alteration, Osi and Sanna., (31). Elevation of ALT in hepatitis C positive diabetes patients in this study is unusually mild, with most having ALT level between one to two times upper limit of normal.