{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,12]],"date-time":"2025-10-12T02:26:27Z","timestamp":1760235987827,"version":"build-2065373602"},"reference-count":22,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"10","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,10,17]],"date-time":"2021-10-17T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1634428800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Medicina"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background and Objectives: Viral hepatitis C infection is an important public health concern worldwide because it is one of the major global causes of death and morbidity. The early identifi-cation of infected people, together with the provision of proper treatment, are the key strategies used in preventing HCV infection. However, data regarding the epidemiological patterns of hep-atitis C in Lithuania are limited. The aim of this research was to evaluate trends in acute HCV cases registered via the national surveillance system in Lithuania during 2005\u20132018. Materials and Methods: Incidence rates were calculated for data, stratified by gender, age group (0\u201324, 25\u201354, 55\u201374, and 75+), place of residence (urban or rural), and the Lithuanian county where the case was recorded. The crude incidence rate of hepatitis C was defined as the number of new infec-tions per 100,000 people during a one-year time period. A linear regression was applied to evalu-ate IR trends during the period of 2005\u20132018. Results: From 2005 to 2018, 572 cases of acute hepa-titis C were registered, and the incidence rate ranged from 2.03 cases per 100,000 people in 2005 to 0.55 in 2016. A statistically significant decreasing trend in the incidence rate was found during the study period (p &lt; 0.0001). Almost 63% of the acute HCV infections recorded via the national surveillance system were in individuals aged from 25 to 54 years. Conclusions: Being male, aged between 25 and 34 years, and living in the city might be important factors for understanding the epidemiological patterns of HCV in Lithuania. Although the number of HCV cases recorded in Lithuania is decreasing, our country has one of the highest IRs compared to other European countries. This shows that a new approach to hepatitis C virus screening strategies is needed.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/medicina57101120","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,10,17]],"date-time":"2021-10-17T23:05:47Z","timestamp":1634511947000},"page":"1120","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":5,"title":["The Epidemiological Patterns of Hepatitis C in Lithuania: Changes in Surveillance from 2005 to 2018"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"57","author":[{"given":"Samanta","family":"Grubyte","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Public Health, Institute of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Vilnius University, 03101 Vilnius, Lithuania"},{"name":"Clinic of Infectious Diseases and Dermatovenerology, Institute of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Vilnius University, 03101 Vilnius, Lithuania"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Jurgita","family":"Urboniene","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Center of Infectious Diseases, Vilnius University Hospital Santaros Klinikos, 08410 Vilnius, Lithuania"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4925-9323","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Laura","family":"Nedzinskiene","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Anatomy, Histology and Anthropology, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Vilnius University, 03101 Vilnius, Lithuania"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6488-6312","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ligita","family":"Jancoriene","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Clinic of Infectious Diseases and Dermatovenerology, Institute of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Vilnius University, 03101 Vilnius, Lithuania"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,10,17]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"600","DOI":"10.1111\/jvh.12123","article-title":"Viral hepatitis and the Global Burden of Disease: A need to regroup","volume":"20","author":"Cooke","year":"2013","journal-title":"J. Viral Hepat."},{"key":"ref_2","unstructured":"World Health Organization (2017). Global Health Hepatitis Report 2017, World Health Organization."},{"key":"ref_3","unstructured":"World Health Organization (2017). Hepatitis C. Fact Sheet No. 164 (Updated October 2017), World Health Organization."},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2164","DOI":"10.1002\/hep.26218","article-title":"Chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) disease burden and cost in the United States","volume":"57","author":"Razavi","year":"2013","journal-title":"Hepatology"},{"key":"ref_5","unstructured":"European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (2019). Hepatitis C. Annual Epidemiological Report for 2017, ECDC."},{"key":"ref_6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2873","DOI":"10.1017\/S0950268817001947","article-title":"Current prevalence of chronic hepatitis B and C virus infection in the general population, blood donors and pregnant women in the EU\/EEA: A systematic review","volume":"145","author":"Hofstraat","year":"2017","journal-title":"Epidemiol. Infect."},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Bertisch, B., Giudici, F., Negro, F., Moradpour, D., M\u00fcllhaupt, B., Moriggia, A., Estill, J., and Keiser, O. (2016). Characteristics of Foreign-Born Persons in the Swiss Hepatitis C Cohort Study: Implications for Screening Recommendations. PLoS ONE, 11.","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0155464"},{"key":"ref_8","first-page":"w13793","article-title":"Hepatitis B and C in Switzerland\u2014Healthcare provider initiated testing for chronic hepatitis B and C infection","volume":"143","author":"Fretz","year":"2013","journal-title":"Swiss Med Wkly."},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Schmidt, A.J., Falcato, L., Zahno, B., Burri, A., Regenass, S., M\u00fcllhaupt, B., and Bruggmann, P. (2014). Prevalence of hepatitis C in a Swiss sample of men who have sex with men: Whom to screen for HCV infection?. BMC Publich Health, 14.","DOI":"10.1186\/1471-2458-14-3"},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"141","DOI":"10.1093\/eurpub\/cku095","article-title":"Birth year distribution in reported hepatitis C cases in Switzerland","volume":"25","author":"Gruggmann","year":"2015","journal-title":"Eur. J. Public Health"},{"key":"ref_11","first-page":"1","article-title":"Recommendations for the identification of chronic hepatitis C virus infection among person born during 1945\u20131965","volume":"61","author":"Smith","year":"2012","journal-title":"MMWR Recomm. Rep."},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"223","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cld.2015.01.001","article-title":"Global epidemiology of hepatocellular carcinoma: An emphasis on demographic and regional variability","volume":"19","author":"McGlynn","year":"2015","journal-title":"Clin. Liver Dis."},{"key":"ref_13","first-page":"240","article-title":"Elimination of Hepatitis B and C Virus Infections","volume":"14","author":"Aronsohn","year":"2018","journal-title":"Gastroenterol. Hepatol."},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Buckley, G.J., and Strom, B.L. (2016). Eliminating the Public Health Problem of Hepatitis B and C in the United States: Phase One Report, The National Academies Press.","DOI":"10.17226\/23407"},{"key":"ref_15","unstructured":"World Health Organization (2016). Combating Hepatitis B and C to Reach Elimination by 2030, World Health Organization. Advocacy Brief."},{"key":"ref_16","unstructured":"(2021, September 01). European Commission Decision of 28 April 2008 Amending Decision 2002\/253\/EC Laying Down Case Definitions for Reporting Communicable Diseases to the Community Network under Decision No 2119\/98\/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council. Available online: https:\/\/op.europa.eu\/en\/publication-detail\/-\/publication\/3e53de24-26d6-4645-b9ab-3931f3874c9e\/language-en."},{"key":"ref_17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"30","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1478-3231.2011.02539.x","article-title":"A systematic review of hepatitis C virus epidemiology in Europe, Canada and Israel","volume":"31","author":"Cornberg","year":"2011","journal-title":"Liver Int."},{"key":"ref_18","first-page":"w14619","article-title":"The epidemiology of hepatitis C in Switzerland: Trends in notifications, 1988\u20132015","volume":"148","author":"Richard","year":"2018","journal-title":"Swiss Med. Wkly."},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"145914","DOI":"10.1016\/j.scitotenv.2021.145914","article-title":"Application of wastewater-based epidemiology to investigate stimulant drug, alcohol and tabacco use in Lithuanian communities","volume":"777","author":"Boogaerts","year":"2021","journal-title":"Sci. Total Environ."},{"key":"ref_20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"571","DOI":"10.1016\/S0140-6736(11)61097-0","article-title":"Global epidemiology of hepatitis B and hepatitis C in people who inject drugs: Results of systematic reviews","volume":"378","author":"Nelson","year":"2011","journal-title":"Lancet"},{"key":"ref_21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Schmidt, A.J., Rockstroh, J.K., Martin, V., An der Heiden, M., Baillot, A., Ivanka Krznaric, I., and Doris, R. (2011). Trouble with Bleeding: Risk Factors for Acute Hepatitis C among HIV-Positive Gay Men from Germany\u2014A Case-Control Study. PLoS ONE, 6.","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0017781"},{"key":"ref_22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"ofv115","DOI":"10.1093\/ofid\/ofv115","article-title":"Risk Factors for Sexual Transmission of Hepatitis C Virus Among Human Immunodeficiency Virus-Infected Men Who Have Sex With Men: A Case-Control Study","volume":"2","author":"Vanhommerig","year":"2015","journal-title":"Open Forum Infect. Dis."}],"container-title":["Medicina"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1648-9144\/57\/10\/1120\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,11]],"date-time":"2025-10-11T07:16:37Z","timestamp":1760166997000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1648-9144\/57\/10\/1120"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2021,10,17]]},"references-count":22,"journal-issue":{"issue":"10","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,10]]}},"alternative-id":["medicina57101120"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/medicina57101120","relation":{},"ISSN":["1648-9144"],"issn-type":[{"type":"electronic","value":"1648-9144"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2021,10,17]]}}}