Hepatitis C: key data sources

Public Health Scotland (PHS) together with confirmatory hepatitis C testing laboratories, collects epidemiological data on all persons who have been diagnosed as being hepatitis C antibody positive in Scotland. Data on the numbers of persons diagnosed with hepatitis C in Scotland according to health board, year of diagnosis, age group, gender and risk factor information can be found at the PHS Health Protection hepatitis C pages. 

Public Health Scotland also holds information on hospital admissions related to hepatitis C in the Scottish Morbidity Record (SMR) databases. However, hepatitis C is often not recognised or recorded as the underlying reason for complications that lead to hospital admission. Consequently, these data likely underestimate the number of hospital admissions due to hepatitis C in Scotland.