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Socio‐economic and other correlates of Kaposi sarcoma‐associated herpesvirus seroprevalence among older adults in Sicily
Author(s) -
Pelser Colleen,
Vitale Francesco,
Whitby Denise,
Graubard Barry I.,
Messina Angelo,
Gafà Lorenzo,
Brown Elizabeth E.,
Anderson Lesley A.,
Romano Nino,
Lauria Carmela,
Goedert James J.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
journal of medical virology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.782
H-Index - 121
eISSN - 1096-9071
pISSN - 0146-6615
DOI - 10.1002/jmv.21589
Subject(s) - seroprevalence , demography , population , confidence interval , odds ratio , kaposi's sarcoma associated herpesvirus , medicine , residence , logistic regression , virology , immunology , virus , viral disease , environmental health , herpesviridae , antibody , serology , sociology
The virus that causes Kaposi sarcoma, KS‐associated herpesvirus (KSHV, also known as human herpesvirus 8) has an unusual distribution and poorly characterized modes of transmission. To clarify these issues, socio‐demographic correlates of KSHV seroprevalence were examined in a population‐based study. In 1,154 randomly sampled adults (aged 32– 92, mean 71 years) throughout Sicily, KSHV antibodies were detected with four assays and a conservative algorithm. Seroprevalence was re‐weighted to the population. Odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals (OR, CI) from multivariate logistic regression were used to estimate associations of seroprevalence with interview data. KSHV seroprevalence was 8.5%, including 5.3% among men (N = 848) and 11.5% among women (N = 306, P = 0.22). Seroprevalence was higher with residence in a smaller community during childhood ( P trend = 0.03) and working with plants/soil during adulthood (OR 2.9, CI 1.1–7.9); these were especially strong among women. Among men, seroprevalence was significantly associated with lower education (OR 2.6, CI 1.1–5.9) and migration to a larger community (OR 0.3, CI 0.1–0.9). Other demographic and household variables were unrelated to seroprevalence. From these data, KSHV in Sicily appears to be related to low socio‐economic status, but micro‐endemicity in small communities cannot be excluded. J. Med. Virol. 81:1938–1944, 2009. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.