studies

1082A AASLD ABSTRACTS HEPATOLOGY, October, 2015
Disclosures:
Kimberly Ann Brown - Advisory Committees or Review Panels: CLDF, Merck,
BMS, ABBVIE, Gilead, Gilead, Janssen, Salix; Consulting: Blue Cross Transplant
Centers; Grant/Research Support: CLDF, Gilead, Exalenz, CDC, BMS, Hyperion,
Merck; Speaking and Teaching: ABBVIE, Gilead, CLDF
David B. Rein - Grant/Research Support: Gilead Sciences, Inc.
The following authors have nothing to disclose: Joanne E. Brady, Danielle Liffmann,
Anthony K. Yartel, Natalie B. Kil, Alex D. Federman, Cynthia E. Jordan,
Omar I. Massoud, David R. Nerenz, Bryce Smith, Claudia Vellozzi
1793
Risk of hepatitis C virus infection in people who use
drugs who report male-to-male sex
Chloe Le Marchand 1 , Ali Mirzazadeh 1 , Stephen Shiboski 1 , Thomas
M. Rice 1 , Meghan D. Morris 1 , Judith A. Hahn 1 , Kimberly Page 2,1 ;
1 University of California, San Francisco, Berkeley, CA; 2 University
of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM
Introduction Most new hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections occur
among people who use drugs (PWID) via shared injecting
equipment. Rising HCV infection rates in non-injecting, HIV-infected
men who have sex with men (MSM) are linked to highrisk
sexual activity. Studies examining the incidence of HCV in
MSM have mixed results; several show an increased susceptibility
to HCV principally in HIV-infected patients. Incidence
rates range from 18.0/1000 person-years (py) in HIV-infected
MSM 9.0/1000 py in MSM without HIV. In this study, we
estimate HCV incidence in male PWID in association with
MSM behavior, controlling for injecting exposures. Methods
We used data from the INC3 collaboration, which pooled biological
and behavioral data from 9 cohorts of PWID in North
America, Europe and Australia, including 1,921 males at risk
for HCV. We included all participants in INC3 with a history of
drug use and a negative anti-HCV test at enrollment. We conducted
contingency table analyses with Chi-square analysis for
descriptive variables by MSM status. Incident infections were
defined as a positive infection (anti-HCV positive or HCV RNA
positive) occurring during follow-up. We used the log-rank test
to compare survival curves by sexual and injecting risk behaviors.
We estimated incidence by MSM status as compared to
non-MSM males and conducted Cox regression analyses to
compute hazard ratios controlling for potential confounders,
including: HIV status, recent injecting, syringe and cooker sharing,
injection frequency, number of injecting partners, access
to clean needles, year entered the study and clustered by site.
Results In 1,064 male participants, followed for 1,921 py,
342 new HCV infections were observed for an overall incidence
of 16.1/100 py (95% CI 14.4, 18.0). No differences
were seen in estimated HCV incidence in MSM participants
(16.3/100 py (95% CI 12.5, 21.2)) compared to non-MSM
males (16.0/100 py (95% CI 14.1, 18.1)). We assessed HCV
incidence in HIV-infected compared to non-infected groups and
found no differences. MSM were different from non-MSM at
baseline with respect to injecting risk: 61% vs. 47% reported
syringe or equipment sharing, respectively (p