TY - JOUR
T1 - Hepatitis C antibody testing among opioid agonist therapy recipients, Victoria, Australia, 2012 to 2020
AU - Dawe, Joshua
AU - Wilkinson, Anna L.
AU - Asselin, Jason
AU - Carter, Allison
AU - Pedrana, Alisa
AU - Traeger, Michael W.
AU - Thomas, Alexander J.
AU - Curtis, Michael
AU - Cooper, Monica
AU - Howell, Jessica
AU - Doyle, Joseph S.
AU - Hellard, Margaret E.
AU - Stoové, Mark
AU - on behalf of the Australian Collaboration for Coordinated Enhanced Sentinel Surveillance of Blood–Borne Viruses and Sexually Transmissible Infections (ACCESS)
N1 - Funding Information:
Joe Doyle's institution has received investigator-initiated research funding from Gilead Science, AbbVie, Merck and Bristol Myers Squibb, and consultancy funding from Gilead, Abbvie, and Merck. Jess Howell has been on the advisory board for Gilead Sciences and received investigator-initiated funding and speaker fees from Gilead Sciences. Alisa Pedrana's institution has received investigator-initiated research funding from Gilead Science, AbbVie, Merck has consultancy and speaker fees from Gilead.
Funding Information:
ACCESS is funded by the Department of Health, Australian Government . M. T., M. E. H., and J. S. D. receive support from the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council . The Burnet Institute acknowledges support from the Victorian Government Operational Infrastructure Fund .
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2022/6
Y1 - 2022/6
N2 - Background: The high burden of hepatitis C among people who inject drugs in Australia underscores the need to increase testing within this population. Understanding hepatitis C screening uptake in primary care settings is therefore critical to the development of effective and targeted strategies to improve hepatitis C testing for people who inject drugs. Primary care services that prescribe OAT are well-positioned to provide hepatitis C testing among a priority population at-risk of hepatitis C. Methods: This study used linked data from 5,429 individuals attending ten clinical services participating in the Australian Collaboration for Coordinated Enhanced Sentinel Surveillance (ACCESS) who received their first recorded OAT prescription between 1st January 2012 and 31st December 2019. We estimated the proportion of OAT recipients who received a hepatitis C antibody test within 12 months of their first recorded OAT prescription, and the proportion of individuals tested who received a positive hepatitis C antibody test. Results: Approximately one in five individuals (17%) received a hepatitis C antibody test in the 12 months following their first recorded OAT prescription. Over half of individuals tested (56%) received a positive hepatitis C antibody test result. Hepatitis C antibody testing was higher among individuals who attended 5–8 (aOR:2.98; 95%CI:2.41–3.69) and 9+ (aOR:6.17; 95%CI:5.13–7.43) clinical consultations, were women (aOR:1.20; 95%CI:1.08–1.34) and whose first recorded OAT prescription occurred in 2017 vs. 2012 (aOR:1.39; 95%CI:1.06–1.84). Hepatitis C antibody testing was lower among individuals prescribed methadone (aOR:0.81; 95%CI:0.73–0.91), and individuals aged 60+ years vs. 18-29 years (aOR:0.67; 95%CI:0.48–0.94). Conclusion: Despite high positivity rates, hepatitis C antibody testing among individuals prescribed OAT remains low. There are opportunities for increased testing among populations exhibiting greater proportions of missed testing opportunities. Integrating routine hepatitis C screening in OAT settings will likely increase case-finding and contribute to Australia's hepatitis C elimination targets.
AB - Background: The high burden of hepatitis C among people who inject drugs in Australia underscores the need to increase testing within this population. Understanding hepatitis C screening uptake in primary care settings is therefore critical to the development of effective and targeted strategies to improve hepatitis C testing for people who inject drugs. Primary care services that prescribe OAT are well-positioned to provide hepatitis C testing among a priority population at-risk of hepatitis C. Methods: This study used linked data from 5,429 individuals attending ten clinical services participating in the Australian Collaboration for Coordinated Enhanced Sentinel Surveillance (ACCESS) who received their first recorded OAT prescription between 1st January 2012 and 31st December 2019. We estimated the proportion of OAT recipients who received a hepatitis C antibody test within 12 months of their first recorded OAT prescription, and the proportion of individuals tested who received a positive hepatitis C antibody test. Results: Approximately one in five individuals (17%) received a hepatitis C antibody test in the 12 months following their first recorded OAT prescription. Over half of individuals tested (56%) received a positive hepatitis C antibody test result. Hepatitis C antibody testing was higher among individuals who attended 5–8 (aOR:2.98; 95%CI:2.41–3.69) and 9+ (aOR:6.17; 95%CI:5.13–7.43) clinical consultations, were women (aOR:1.20; 95%CI:1.08–1.34) and whose first recorded OAT prescription occurred in 2017 vs. 2012 (aOR:1.39; 95%CI:1.06–1.84). Hepatitis C antibody testing was lower among individuals prescribed methadone (aOR:0.81; 95%CI:0.73–0.91), and individuals aged 60+ years vs. 18-29 years (aOR:0.67; 95%CI:0.48–0.94). Conclusion: Despite high positivity rates, hepatitis C antibody testing among individuals prescribed OAT remains low. There are opportunities for increased testing among populations exhibiting greater proportions of missed testing opportunities. Integrating routine hepatitis C screening in OAT settings will likely increase case-finding and contribute to Australia's hepatitis C elimination targets.
KW - Australia
KW - HCV screening
KW - Hepatitis C
KW - Opioid agonist therapy
KW - People who inject drugs
KW - Primary care
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85129631338&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.drugpo.2022.103696
DO - 10.1016/j.drugpo.2022.103696
M3 - Article
C2 - 35490624
AN - SCOPUS:85129631338
SN - 0955-3959
VL - 104
JO - International Journal of Drug Policy
JF - International Journal of Drug Policy
M1 - 103696
ER -
