9261 HEPATITIS C REPORT GALLEY - North West Public Health ...

Use of any particular drug is likely to be related to use of the other drugs. Therefore, a
backwards stepwise logistic regression was carried out to identify which drugs were
independently related to hepatitis C infection. Compared to not having used the drug at
all, having injected methadone (OR = 3.62, CI 1.38 - 9.48), DF 118 (dihydrocodeine
tartrate) (OR = 3.92, CI 1.12 - 13.75), Diconal (dipipanone hydrochloride) (OR = 3.09, CI
1.42 - 6.69) and morphine (OR = 3.48, CI 1.71 - 7.08) all resulted in higher risk of
hepatitis C infection. Compared to not using the drug, those who used (but not injected)
amphetamines and those who had used or injected Temgesic were at lower risk of
infection (using amphetamine: OR = 0.33, CI 0.14 - 0.78; using Temgesic OR = 0.32, CI
0.14 - 0.75, injecting Temgesic OR = 0.32 CI 0.13-0.75). For hepatitis B, having used or
injected Diconal tripled the risk (compared to not using: OR = 3.76, CI 1.32-10.71 and
OR = 3.34, CI 1.74-6.42 respectively) while those using (but not injecting) amphetamines
were about a third as likely to be infected (OR = 0.3, CI 0.1-0.82). These patterns of drug
use, as measures of chaotic behaviour, are examined further in the discussion.
Table 4: Percentage of individuals sharing injecting equipment (ever and in the
previous four weeks) by current serostatus and test history
Hepititis C
Needle Syringe Spoon Filter Paraphernalia 1 Any
n ever last 4 ever last 4 ever last 4 ever last 4 ever last 4 ever last 4
weeks weeks weeks weeks weeks weeks
Current +ve 181 61.3** 5.5 59.7* 6.1 81.8 32.6 74.0 29.3 82.9 35.4 86.2 37.6
Serostatus -ve 160 45.0 9.4 46.6 8.8 82.5 36.9 68.8 25.6 83.1 37.6 83.8 38.1
Previously yes 99 64.6* 5.1 61.6* 5.1 87.9 28.3 81.8* 28.3 84.6 32.3 90.9 33.3
Tested no 225 49.3 8.4 46.7 7.1 80.4 38.7 68.9 29.8 82.1 40.4 82.7 41.3
Previous +ve 36 69.4 5.6 58.3 2.8 86.1 33.3 83.3 36.1 88.9 38.9 94.4 41.7
Test Result -ve 45 55.6 6.7 60.0 8.9 88.9 28.9 77.8 22.2 88.9 28.9 88.9 28.9
Hepititis B
Current +ve 89 64.0* 4.5 61.8* 5.6 87.6 33.7 77.5 27.0 87.6 34.8 91.0 36.0
Serostatus -ve 245 49.4 8.6 48.2 7.8 79.2 35.1 69.0 28.2 80.8 37.6 82.9 39.2
Previously yes 149 58.4 6.0 55.0 5.4 86.6 30.9 77.9 26.8 87.9* 33.6 88.6 34.2
Tested no 179 47.5 7.8 46.9 7.3 78.8 38.5 68.2 30.7 79.3 40.8 81.6 41.3
Previous +ve 29 58.6 3.4 51.7 3.4 89.7 34.5 79.3 24.1 89.7 34.5 89.7 34.5
Test Result -ve 96 56.3 6.3 55.2 5.2 86.5 31.3 79.2 30.2 87.5 35.4 88.5 35.4
1 Injecting equipment other than needles or syringes. *p