Hepatitis C Prevalence in the Drug User Populations

Hepatitis C Prevalence in the Drug User Populations

"Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is highly prevalent in illicit drug user populations, with three in four new HCV infections related to this risk behavior and a growing HCV disease burden in Canada," wrote the authors of the current study. To explore the prevalence and predictors of HCV status in this high-risk population, the researchers used data from a multi-site cohort study of illicit opioid users in five Canadian cities (OPICAN).

Salivary antibody tests were used to assess HCV status of participants. Univariate relationships of HCV status with select variables were examined on the basis of cohort baseline data, and multivariate models using logistic regression to determine independent predictors of HCV were generated.

HCV infection was present in 54.6 percent of the analysis sample (n=482). The authors found significant differences in terms of HCV prevalence across the sites. The final stepwise logistic regression model revealed significant variables including age, site (Toronto), unprotected sex, injecting drug use, drug treatment, and incarceration in the past year; these were in addition to opioid use in combination with non-opioids.

"Besides drug injecting, various other socio-behavioral factors were associated with HCV status in our cohort," the authors concluded. "On this basis, interventions focusing solely on injection risks are overly limited in scope to prevent HCV transmission in the high-risk population of illicit drug users and need to be broadened. Prevention efforts should also target young injectors as a priority."

Canadian Journal of Public Health Vol. 98; No. 2: P. 130-133 (03.04.07):: Cruz M. Firestone; B. Fischer; J. Patra; K. Kalousek; B. Newton-Taylor, J. Rehm; M. Tyndall

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