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Incidence of hepatitis C among people who inject drugs in Ireland
- Source :
- Hepatology, Medicine and Policy, Vol 2, Iss 1, Pp 1-7 (2017), Hepatology, Medicine and Policy
- Publication Year :
- 2017
- Publisher :
- BMC, 2017.
-
Abstract
- Background Comprehensive information on the incidence and duration of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection for people who inject drugs (PWID) in Ireland is not available. We created an incidence curve of injecting drug use in Ireland and subsequently estimated incidence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. Methods Anonymised data from the National Drug Treatment Reporting System (NDTRS) were used to identify all people who inject drugs (PWIDs) and who entered drug treatment for the first time between 1991 and 2014. A curve, estimating the incidence of injecting, was created to plot PWIDs by year of commencing injecting. The curve was adjusted for missing data on PWIDs in treatment and for PWIDs who were never treated. An adjustment was made to account for injectors who had never shared injecting equipment. The incidence of HCV infection and chronic infection in PWIDs was estimated by applying published rates. Results Between 1991 and 2014, 14,320 injectors were registered on NDTRS. The majority were young (median age 25 years), male (74%), lived in Dublin (73%) and injected an opiate (e.g. heroin) (94%). The estimated total number of injectors up to the end of 2014 was 16,382. An estimated 12,423 (95% CI 10,799-13,161) were infected with HCV, and 9,317 (95% CI 8,022-9,996) became chronically infected. The estimated annual number of new HCV infections among PWIDs increased steeply from the late 1970s and peaked in 1998. By 2014, almost 30% of injectors were estimated to have been infected for over 20 years. Conclusions This is the first comprehensive national estimate of the incidence of HCV in PWIDs in Ireland and will inform planning and developing appropriate health care services. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s41124-017-0024-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
- Subjects :
- Pediatrics
medicine.medical_specialty
Hepatitis C virus
medicine.disease_cause
Heroin
03 medical and health sciences
Drug treatment
0302 clinical medicine
medicine
030212 general & internal medicine
lcsh:RC799-869
PWID
Communicable infectious disease
business.industry
Research
Public health
Incidence (epidemiology)
Incidence
Hepatitis C
medicine.disease
Virology
Injecting drug use
030211 gastroenterology & hepatology
lcsh:Diseases of the digestive system. Gastroenterology
business
Reporting system
Ireland
medicine.drug
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 20595166
- Volume :
- 2
- Issue :
- 1
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Hepatology, Medicine and Policy
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....edf5f9f0433bb26544d8d38b9bf91823