Cent Eur J Public Health 2012, 20(3):223-225 | DOI: 10.21101/cejph.a3747

Referral of Intravenous Drug Users for Antiviral Treatment: Effectiveness of Hepatitis C Case-finding Programmes

Gábor Gazdag1, Gergely Horváth2, Olga Szabó3, Gabor S. Ungvari4
1 Consultation-Liaison Psychiatric Service, Szent István and Szent László Hospitals, Budapest, Hungary
2 Focal Point for Drugs, National Epidemiological Center, Budapest, Hungary
3 Hepatology Outpatient Clinic, Szent István and Szent László Hospitals, Budapest, Hungary
4 University of Notre Dame Australia, Marian Centre, Perth, Australia

Background: Hepatitis C infection (HCI) case-finding programmes aim to identify infected persons in a well-defined population. This study assessed the effectiveness of three HCI case-finding programmes for intravenous drug users by examining the rate of their referral to antiviral treatment.

Methods: The Hepatology Outpatient Clinic of Szent László Hospital examines and treats all intravenous drug users who are found positive in HCI case-finding programmes in Budapest. The medical records of patients who visited the Hepatology Outpatient Clinic of Szent László Hospital between 1 January 2006 and 31 December 2008 were screened and records indicating a history of drug abuse were selected. These records were matched against the databases of the hepatitis case-finding programmes and the records that appeared in both datasets were analyzed.

Results: Of the 234 intravenous drug users identified as hepatitis C virus positive in the Budapest case-finding programmes, only 21 attended the Hepatology Outpatient Clinic of Szent László Hospital and only two started antiviral treatment, but their hepatitis C virus positive status had already been known at the time of screening.

Conclusion: In this study, not a single patient with drug abuse whose hepatitis C virus positive status was identified in one of the HCI case-finding programmes was referred for antiviral treatment.

Klíčová slova: hepatitis C, intravenous drug users, screening programme

Vloženo: 29. listopad 2011; Revidováno: 18. červen 2012; Přijato: 18. červen 2012; Zveřejněno: 1. září 2012  Zobrazit citaci

ACS AIP APA ASA Harvard Chicago Chicago Notes IEEE ISO690 MLA NLM Turabian Vancouver
Gazdag G, Horváth G, Szabó O, Ungvari GS. Referral of Intravenous Drug Users for Antiviral Treatment: Effectiveness of Hepatitis C Case-finding Programmes. Cent Eur J Public Health. 2012;20(3):223-225. doi: 10.21101/cejph.a3747. PubMed PMID: 23285525.
Stáhnout citaci

Reference

  1. Quaglio GL, Lugoboni F, Pajusco B, Sarti M, Talamini G, Mezzelani P, et al.; GICS. Hepatitis C virus infection: prevalence, predictor variables and prevention opportunities among drug users in Italy. J Viral Hepat. 2003 Sep;10(5):394-400. Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
  2. Gerlich M, Gschwend P, UchtenhagenA, KrämerA, Rehm J. Prevalence of hepatitis and HIV infections and vaccination rates in patients entering the heroin-assisted treatment in Switzerland between 1994 and 2002. Eur J Epidemiol. 2006;21(7):545-9. Přejít k původnímu zdroji... Přejít na PubMed...
  3. Lidman C, Norden L, Kåberg M, Käll K, Franck J, Aleman S, et al. Hepatitis C infection among injection drug users in Stockholm Sweden: prevalence and gender. Scand J Infect Dis. 2009;41(9):679-84. Erratum in: Scand J Infect Dis. 2009;41(9):684. Přejít k původnímu zdroji... Přejít na PubMed...
  4. Kolarić B, Stajduhar D, Gajnik D, Rukavina T, Wiessing L. Seroprevalence of blood-borne infections and population sizes estimates in a population of injecting drug users in Croatia. Cent Eur J Public Health. 2010 Jun;18(2):104-9. Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
  5. Merkinaite S, Lazarus JV, Gore C.Addressing HCV infection in Europe: reported, estimated and undiagnosed cases. Cent Eur J Public Health. 2008 Sep;16(3):106-10. Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
  6. Gerevich J. Issues in the outpatient treatment of drug addict patients. In: Németh A, Gerevich J, editors. Addictions. Budapest: Medicina; 2000. p. 52-72. (In Hungarian.)
  7. Osztrogonácz H, Gerevich J, Horváth G,Tolvaj G, Dávid K. Prevalence of chronic viral hepatitis in drug abusers. Orv Hetil. 2000Apr 2;141(14):715 Přejít na PubMed...
  8. (In Hungarian.)
  9. Csohán Á, Csorba J, Keller É, Zacher G. Health aspects and consequences of drug abuse. In: NyírádyA, Felvinczi K, editors. Report about the Hungarian drug situation. Budapest: ICSSZEM Professional series; 2004. p. 81-9. (In Hungarian).
  10. Takács IG. Tendencies of HIV and hepatitis prevalence in intravenous drug users. In: Felvinczy K, NyírádyA, editors. Drug policy in numbers. Budapest: L'Harmattan; 2009. p. 265-8. (In Hungarian.)
  11. Schaefer M, Schmidt F, Folwaczny C, Lorenz R, Martin G, Schindlbeck N, et al. Adherence and mental side effects during hepatitis C treatment with interferon alfa and ribavirin in psychiatric risk groups. Hepatology. 2003 Feb;37(2):443-51. Přejít k původnímu zdroji... Přejít na PubMed...
  12. Protocol of the Ministry of Health for the antiviral treatment of the chronic viral hepatitis [Internet].[cited 2009 Nov 14].Available from: http://www.eum.hu/egeszsegpolitika/minosegfejlesztes/gasztro-hepatitis.
  13. Hungarian Drug Focal Point. 2009 report on the drug use in Hungary for EMCDDA. Budapest: NFP; 2009. (In Hungarian.)
  14. Takács IG. Harm reduction in numbers. In: Felvinczy K, NyírádyA, editors. Drug policy in numbers. Budapest: L'Harmattan; 2009. p. 233-78. (In Hungarian.)
  15. Anderson EM, Mandeville RP, Hutchinson SJ, Cameron SO, Mills PR, Fox R, et al. Evaluation of a general practice based hepatitis C virus screening intervention. Scott Med J. 2009 Aug;54(3):3-7. Přejít k původnímu zdroji... Přejít na PubMed...
  16. Castelnuovo E, Thompson-Coon J, Pitt M, Cramp M, Siebert U, PriceA, et al. The cost-effectiveness of testing for hepatitis C in former injecting drug users. Health Technol Assess. 2006 Sep;10(32):iii-iv, ix-xii, 1-93. Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
  17. Jowett SL, Agarwal K, Smith BC, Craig W, Hewett M, Bassendine DR, et al. Managing chronic hepatitis C acquired through intravenous drug use. QJM. 2001 Mar;94(3):153-8. Přejít k původnímu zdroji... Přejít na PubMed...
  18. Serfaty MA, Lawrie A, Smith B, Brind AM, Watson JP, Gilvarry E, et al. Risk factors and medical follow-up of drug users tested for hepatitis C - can the risk of transmission be reduced? Drug Alcohol Rev. 1997 Dec;16(4):339-47. Přejít k původnímu zdroji... Přejít na PubMed...