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ABSTRACT: Background and aims
People who inject drugs (PWID) are historically viewed as having "difficult to treat" hepatitis C disease, with perceived inferior treatment adherence and outcomes, and concerns regarding reinfection risk. We evaluated for differences in treatment adherence and response to Peginterferon-alfa-2a/Ribavirin (Peg-IFN?/RBV) in a large urban cohort with and without a history of remote or recent injection drug use.Methods
Patient data was retrospectively reviewed for 1000 consecutive patients-608 former (no injecting drug use for 6 months of therapy), 85 recent (injecting drug use within 6 months) PWID, and 307 non-drug users who were treated for chronic hepatitis C with Peg-IFN?/RBV. The groups were compared for baseline characteristics, treatment adherence, and outcome.Results
There was no significant difference in treatment non-adherence between the groups (8.4% in PWID vs 6.8% in non-PWIDs; RR = 1.23, CI 0.76-1.99). The overall SVR rate in PWID (64.2%) was not different from non-PWIDs (60.9%) [RR = 1.05, 95% CI 0.95-1.17]. There was no significant difference in SVR rates between the groups controlling for genotype (48.4% vs 48.4% for genotype 1; 74.9 vs 73.3% for genotype 3). Former and recent PWID had similar adherence rates.Conclusions
PWID have comparable treatment adherence and SVR rates when compared to non-drug users treated with Peg-IFN?/RBV. These data support a public health strategy of HCV treatment and eradication in PWID in the DAA era.
SUBMITTER: Elsherif O
PROVIDER: S-EPMC5479520 | biostudies-literature | 2017
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Elsherif Omar O Bannan Ciaran C Keating Shay S McKiernan Susan S Bergin Colm C Norris Suzanne S
PloS one 20170621 6
<h4>Background and aims</h4>People who inject drugs (PWID) are historically viewed as having "difficult to treat" hepatitis C disease, with perceived inferior treatment adherence and outcomes, and concerns regarding reinfection risk. We evaluated for differences in treatment adherence and response to Peginterferon-alfa-2a/Ribavirin (Peg-IFNα/RBV) in a large urban cohort with and without a history of remote or recent injection drug use.<h4>Methods</h4>Patient data was retrospectively reviewed for ...[more]