Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) Infection & Risk Factors for HCV Positivity in Injecting & Non-Injecting Drug Users Attending a De-Addiction Centre in Northern India

Background & objectives:

Injecting drug use is a major route of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in India, but there may be other risk factors also. This study was carried out to determine the seroprevalence of anti-HCV antibody in injecting drug users (IDUs) vs. non-IDUs (NIDUs), and to study the risk estimates for HCV seropositivity in the total sample of substance users with regard to various demographic, clinical, behavioural and personality factors.

Methods:

The IDUs (n = 201) and NIDUs (n = 219) were assessed for demographic, clinical and behavioural information, and were rated on instruments for severity of dependence, risk behaviour and personality profiles. Anti-HCV antibody was tested by ELISA and confirmed by recombinant immunoblot assay (RIBA) test.

Results:

Almost one-third of the IDUs (64 of 201; 31.8%) were positive for anti-HCV antibody, as opposed to only seven (3.2%) of the NIDUs. The four risk factors strongly associated with HCV positivity in multivariate analysis were sharing syringe [Exp(B) 75.04; 95%CI 18.28-307.96; P<0.001], reuse of injection accessories (16.39; 3.51-76.92; P<0.001), blood transfusion (5.88; 1.63-21.23; P=0.007) and IDU status (3.60; 1.26-10.31; P=0.017). Other variables less strongly but significantly associated with HCV positivity were multiple sex partners, opioid dependence, risk behaviour scores, impulsivity, and lower age of onset of drug use.

Interpretation & conclusions:

Our study showed a high seroprevalence of anti-HCV antibody in IDUs. In the substance users, HCV positivity was significantly and independently associated with several clinical, behavioural, and personality risk factors.

Table I

HCV, HBV and HIV testing results in injecting vs. non-injecting drug users (IDU vs. NIDU)

Full article at:   http://goo.gl/P7eaXF

By:   Debasish Basu, Arun Kumar Sharma,* Sunil Gupta, Naresh Nebhinani,** and Vineet Kumar

Department of Psychiatry, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education & Research, Chandigarh, India

^*Department of Gastroenterology, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education & Research, Chandigarh, India

^**Department of Psychiatry, Pt. Bhagwat Dayal Sharma Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Rohtak, India

Reprint requests: Dr Debasish Basu, Department of Psychiatry, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education & Research, Chandigarh 160 012, India e-mail: moc.oohay@2002ms_bd

  

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