author(s)
Qudrat Ullah, Khalid Khan, Kausar Saeed, Hameed Ur Rehman, Muhammad Arif, Saadullah Khattak, Mansoor Zaman, Faiqa Falak Naz, Rafiq Ahmad, Ikram Ali, Afzal Ahmad and Arshi Hezbullah

abstract
The present study was conducted to investigate the epidemiological status of hepatitis B (HBV) and hepatitis C (HCV) viral infection and associated risk factors in MURCY Hospital Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan from November 2015 to April 2016. A total of 500 clinically suspected cases of HCV and a total of 300 clinically suspected cases of HBV were enrolled in the study from serum samples. HCV prevalence was significantly detected in male patients (n = 53, 32.5%) as compared to female patients (n = 97, 28.7%). Patients in the age group of 61–80 years (n = 38, 58.4%) were more prone to HCV, but less prevalent in the age group of 41-60 years (n=87, 25.1%). The prevalence of HVC was low (n=97, 27.7) in the people who use drugs and were high (n=53, 35.3%) in non-users of drugs. Also HBV prevalence was significantly detected in female patients (n = 40, 22.2%) as compared to male patients (n = 23, 20.8%). Patients in the age group of 41-60 years (n = 31, 26%) were more prone to HBV, but less prevalent in the age group of 1-20 years (n=1, 10%) and in the age group of 21-40 years (n=15, 15.3%). The overall incidence of Hepatitis C and Hepatitis B virus in the present research study was 30% (n=150) and 66% (n=65) respectively in clinically suspected cases in district Peshawar, Pakistan.