{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,20]],"date-time":"2026-07-20T11:44:16Z","timestamp":1784547856560,"version":"3.55.0"},"reference-count":0,"publisher":"AVES YAYINCILIK A.\u015e.","issue":"7","content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Turkish Journal of Gastroenterology"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background: Seroepidemiology, risk factors to hepatitis E virus exposure, and prevalence of hepatitis E virus viremia have not yet been investigated among patients under immunosuppression or with liver disease that are high risk for infection in Turkey. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 292 consecutive serum samples from renal transplant recipients, allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant recipients, patients with acute hepatitis, and patients with chronic hepatitis C were prospectively collected in a ter- tiary university hospital. Sera were tested for hepatitis E virus immunoglobulin G\/immunoglobulin M and hepatitis E virus ribonucleic acid using commercial enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and in-house nested polymerase chain reaction with Sanger sequencing, respectively. Sociodemographic, clinical, laboratory data, and risk factors were collected using a questionnaire and hospital database. Multiple logistic regression analysis was employed to identify independent predictors for anti-hepatitis E virus seropositivity. Results: Among all patients, only 2 patients (1 renal transplant recipient and 1 patient with acute hepatitis) were identified as having hepatitis E virus genotype 3 viremia. Hepatitis E virus viremia rate was 0.6% in whole group. These patients showed no signs of chronic hepatitis E virus infection for 6 months and were spontaneously seroconverted 6 months after enrollment. Anti-hepatitis E virus IgG was positive in 29 patients yielding a hepatitis E virus seroprevalence of 9.9%. Older age (adjusted odds ratio: 1.03, 95% CI, 1.00-1.06; P = .022) and eating undercooked meat (adjusted odds ratio: 3.11, 95% CI, 1.08-8.92; P = .034) were independent risk factors to anti- hepatitis E virus seropositivity in all patients. Similarly, multiple logistic regression analysis demonstrated that age (adjusted odds ratio: 1.03, 95% CI, 0.99-1.07, P = .058) and eating undercooked meat (adjusted odds ratio: 5.77, 95% CI, 1.49-22.25, P = .011) were indepen- dent risk factors for anti-hepatitis E virus IgG positivity in the liver disease subgroup consisting of acute hepatitis and chronic hepatitis C patients. Conclusion: The hepatitis E virus seroprevalence rate was high (9.9%), despite low viremia rate (0.6%) in high-risk patients. The emer- gence of hepatitis E virus genotype 3 might indicate a serious problem for these patients. Future investigations are needed to elucidate foodborne transmission routes of hepatitis E virus in Turkey. Cite this article as: Balaban HY, Aslan AT, Akdog\u0306an-Kittana FN, et al. Hepatitis E virus prevalence and associated risk factors in high-risk groups: A cross-sectional study. Turk J Gastroenterol. 2022;33(7):615-624.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.5152\/tjg.2022.21493","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,5,26]],"date-time":"2022-05-26T02:05:35Z","timestamp":1653530735000},"page":"615-624","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":5,"title":["Hepatitis E Virus Prevalence and Associated Risk Factors in High-Risk Groups: A Cross-Sectional Study"],"prefix":"10.5152","volume":"33","author":[{"given":"Hatice Yasemin","family":"Balaban","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Abdullah Tar\u0131k","family":"Aslan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Fatma Nur","family":"Akdo\u011fan-Kittana","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Alpaslan","family":"Alp","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Osman","family":"Da\u011f","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"\u015eefika Nur","family":"Ayar","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Cavan\u015fir","family":"Vahabov","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Cem","family":"\u015eim\u015fek","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Tolga","family":"Y\u0131ld\u0131r\u0131m","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Hakan","family":"G\u00f6ker","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Koray","family":"Erg\u00fcnay","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yunus","family":"Erdem","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yahya","family":"B\u00fcy\u00fcka\u015f\u0131k","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Halis","family":"\u015eim\u015fek","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"3111","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,7,15]]},"container-title":["Turkish Journal of Gastroenterology"],"original-title":[],"link":[{"URL":"http:\/\/turkjgastroenterol.org\/index.php\/tjg\/article\/download\/3905\/3567","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,17]],"date-time":"2026-02-17T03:05:24Z","timestamp":1771297524000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"http:\/\/turkjgastroenterol.org\/index.php\/tjg\/article\/view\/3905"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2022,7,15]]},"references-count":0,"journal-issue":{"issue":"7","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,7,15]]}},"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.5152\/tjg.2022.21493","relation":{},"ISSN":["2148-5607"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2148-5607","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2022,7,15]]}}}