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

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4.4 Previous hepatitis C test history People who had been for previous hepatitis C tests were nearly three times more likely to have shared needles or other equipment at some point in their lives (adjusted OR = 2.63, CI 1.23-6.17) and were twice as likely to have been in prison (adjusted OR = 1.94, CI 1.23-3.31). Since these are both risk factors for hepatitis C infection itself (see Section 4.3), it follows that those presenting for previous tests were about 70% more likely to be hepatitis C positive (OR =1.68, CI 1.03-2.75, chi square p = 0.01). Table 4 shows that those who have ever shared needles or any item of injecting paraphernalia were more likely to have presented for a hepatitis C test. Thus, over 90% of those previously tested for hepatitis C had shared at least some item of injecting equipment (needles or paraphernalia) at some time compared to 83% of those who had not been tested. However, when examining recent sharing behaviour (last four weeks), importantly this trend was reversed. Here, of those having taken a hepatitis C test only 33% had shared in the past four weeks compared with 41% of those who had not previously been tested. This was examined further by dividing the study sample into those who had shared in the past but not in the four weeks prior to taking part in the study ('reformed sharers') and those who disclosed sharing in the previous four weeks ('current sharers'). Analyses indicate that those having previously taken a hepatitis C tests were 1.69 times more likely than previously untested individuals to be reformed sharers (i.e. no longer sharing; CI 1.01-2.85, p = 0.045). In other words, taking a test was associated with a small but significant change in sharing behaviour. Length of time being an injector was not related to having taken a hepatitis C test. Of the people who had been tested previously, 63 (66%) knew their correct status (32 positive, 31 negative). For fifteen (16%), their present test result was not the same as that recalled from the previous test: 14 stated that they had tested negative but were found to be positive during this study. Either these individuals were in fact negative at the time of their previous test and have been infected subsequently, or their recall of their test result was incorrect. The remaining person mistakenly thought himself or herself to be positive. Seventeen people did not know their status following their previous test, of those, over half (11, 65%) were positive at the current test. H EPATITIS C IN INJECTING DRUG USERS IN THE N ORTH W EST 29
4.5 Predicting sharing behaviour People who believed themselves to be positive (by a previous test) did not differ significantly in their recent (previous four weeks) sharing behaviour from those who believed themselves to be negative, with around 6% having shared needles and about a third having shared any paraphernalia (Table 4). However, the size of the group within which the individual most recently injected their drugs was an important predictor of recent sharing behaviour (Figure 4). Of those whose previous injecting occasion was with one other person, 54% had shared some form of injecting equipment in the previous four weeks, whereas only 35% of those who injected with a larger group (two to five others) had recently shared. Compared to those who injected alone on their most recent injecting occasion, people who injected with one other person were nearly five times more likely to have shared equipment in the previous four weeks (p
Page 1 and 2: Hepatitis C in injecting drug users
Page 3 and 4: S UMMARY Viruses such as HIV, hepat
Page 5 and 6: • Those who are infected with hep
Page 7 and 8: C ONTENTS Summary 2 Aims 2 Key Find
Page 9 and 10: 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background Viru
Page 11 and 12: where sexual partners do get infect
Page 13 and 14: ehaviour at some stage in their dru
Page 15 and 16: likely to use a condom and less lik
Page 17 and 18: 2. AIMS AND O BJECTIVES Reviewing c
Page 19 and 20: 3.3 Testing Subjects gave blood and
Page 21 and 22: Table 1b: Basic results: behaviours
Page 23 and 24: Table 2: Hepatitis C and B status a
Page 25 and 26: Table 3: Effects of risk factors on
Page 27 and 28: Figure 3: Percentage of injecting d
Page 29: Table 5: Percentage (number) of sub
Page 33 and 34: 4.6 Blood donation Of those who had
Page 35 and 36: 5.2 Co-infection between hepatitis
Page 37 and 38: sharers were significantly more lik
Page 39 and 40: 5.8 Conclusions and Recommendations
Page 41 and 42: R EFERENCES Allory Y, Charlotte F,
Page 43 and 44: Hepatitis Information Network (2000
Page 45 and 46: Tagger A, Donato F, Ribero ML, Chie

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