The effects of needle-sharing and opioid substitution therapy on incidence of hepatitis C virus infection and reinfection in people who inject drugs
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016.Although high hepatitis C virus (HCV) prevalence has been observed in people who inject drugs (PWID) for decades, research suggests incidence is falling. We examined whether PWIDs' use of opioid substitution therapy (OST) and their needle-and-syringe...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
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Cambridge University Press
2017
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/54194 |
| _version_ | 1848759307971067904 |
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| author | Aitken, C. Agius, P. Higgs, Peter Stoové, M. Bowden, D. Dietze, P. |
| author_facet | Aitken, C. Agius, P. Higgs, Peter Stoové, M. Bowden, D. Dietze, P. |
| author_sort | Aitken, C. |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016.Although high hepatitis C virus (HCV) prevalence has been observed in people who inject drugs (PWID) for decades, research suggests incidence is falling. We examined whether PWIDs' use of opioid substitution therapy (OST) and their needle-and-syringe sharing behaviour explained HCV incidence. We assessed HCV incidence in 235 PWID in Melbourne, Australia, and performed discrete-time survival with needle-sharing and OST status as independent variables. HCV infection, reinfection and combined infection/reinfection incidences were 7.6 [95% confidence interval (CI) 4.8-11.9], 12.4 (95% CI 9.1-17.0) and 9.7 (95% CI 7.4-12.6) per 100 person-years, respectively. Needle-sharing was significantly associated with higher incidence of naive HCV infection [hazard ratio (HR) 4.9, 95% CI 1.3-17.7] but not reinfection (HR 1.85, 95% CI 0.79-4.32); however, a cross-model test suggested this difference was sample specific. Past month use of OST had non-significant protective effects against naive HCV infection and reinfection. Our data confirm previous evidence of greatly reduced HCV incidence in PWID, but not the significant protective effect of OST on HCV incidence detected in recent studies. Our findings reinforce the need for greater access to HCV testing and prevention services to accelerate the decline in incidence, and HCV treatment, management and support to limit reinfection. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T09:57:49Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-54194 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T09:57:49Z |
| publishDate | 2017 |
| publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-541942017-09-13T15:49:26Z The effects of needle-sharing and opioid substitution therapy on incidence of hepatitis C virus infection and reinfection in people who inject drugs Aitken, C. Agius, P. Higgs, Peter Stoové, M. Bowden, D. Dietze, P. Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016.Although high hepatitis C virus (HCV) prevalence has been observed in people who inject drugs (PWID) for decades, research suggests incidence is falling. We examined whether PWIDs' use of opioid substitution therapy (OST) and their needle-and-syringe sharing behaviour explained HCV incidence. We assessed HCV incidence in 235 PWID in Melbourne, Australia, and performed discrete-time survival with needle-sharing and OST status as independent variables. HCV infection, reinfection and combined infection/reinfection incidences were 7.6 [95% confidence interval (CI) 4.8-11.9], 12.4 (95% CI 9.1-17.0) and 9.7 (95% CI 7.4-12.6) per 100 person-years, respectively. Needle-sharing was significantly associated with higher incidence of naive HCV infection [hazard ratio (HR) 4.9, 95% CI 1.3-17.7] but not reinfection (HR 1.85, 95% CI 0.79-4.32); however, a cross-model test suggested this difference was sample specific. Past month use of OST had non-significant protective effects against naive HCV infection and reinfection. Our data confirm previous evidence of greatly reduced HCV incidence in PWID, but not the significant protective effect of OST on HCV incidence detected in recent studies. Our findings reinforce the need for greater access to HCV testing and prevention services to accelerate the decline in incidence, and HCV treatment, management and support to limit reinfection. 2017 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/54194 10.1017/S0950268816002892 Cambridge University Press restricted |
| spellingShingle | Aitken, C. Agius, P. Higgs, Peter Stoové, M. Bowden, D. Dietze, P. The effects of needle-sharing and opioid substitution therapy on incidence of hepatitis C virus infection and reinfection in people who inject drugs |
| title | The effects of needle-sharing and opioid substitution therapy on incidence of hepatitis C virus infection and reinfection in people who inject drugs |
| title_full | The effects of needle-sharing and opioid substitution therapy on incidence of hepatitis C virus infection and reinfection in people who inject drugs |
| title_fullStr | The effects of needle-sharing and opioid substitution therapy on incidence of hepatitis C virus infection and reinfection in people who inject drugs |
| title_full_unstemmed | The effects of needle-sharing and opioid substitution therapy on incidence of hepatitis C virus infection and reinfection in people who inject drugs |
| title_short | The effects of needle-sharing and opioid substitution therapy on incidence of hepatitis C virus infection and reinfection in people who inject drugs |
| title_sort | effects of needle-sharing and opioid substitution therapy on incidence of hepatitis c virus infection and reinfection in people who inject drugs |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/54194 |