Table I.

Study population prevalence of anti-hepatitis E virus (HEV) IgG according to comparison group, geographic area, and age.

	N	Anti-HEV +ve	Prevalence (%)	95% CI	p-value
Group
Blood donors	3,912	579	14.8	13.7–15.9	<0.01
MSM	196	11	5.6	3.1–9.9
Geographical area
Northern Italy	1,572	160	10.2	8.8–11.8	<0.01
Central Italy	1,683	343	20.4	18.5–22.4
Southern Italy	853	87	10.2	8.3–12.4
Age (years)
<40	1,518	166	10.9	9.5–12.6	<0.01
40–49	1,235	168	13.6	11.8–15.6
≥ 50	1,355	256	18.9	16.9–21.1
Total study population	4,108	590	14.4	13.3–15.5

N: number of participants; Anti-HEV +ve: anti-hepatitis E virus positive; CI: confidence interval; MSM: men who have sex with men.