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 pages on hepatitis C.

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.