Aspinall E J, Weir A, Sacks-Davis R, Spelman T, Grebely J, Higgs P, Hutchinson S J, Hellard M E
Glasgow Caledonian University, Glasgow, UK; Health Protection Scotland, Glasgow, UK.
Glasgow Caledonian University, Glasgow, UK; Health Protection Scotland, Glasgow, UK.
Int J Drug Policy. 2014 Jan;25(1):179-82. doi: 10.1016/j.drugpo.2013.08.005. Epub 2013 Sep 8.
People who inject drugs (PWID) are at risk of hepatitis C virus (HCV). It is plausible that PWID who receive a diagnosis of HCV will reduce their injecting risk out of concern for their injecting partners, although evidence for this is currently limited. The aim of this study was to investigate whether informing PWID of their HCV diagnosis was associated with a change in injecting behaviour.
Prospective, longitudinal study of PWID recruited from street drug markets across Melbourne, Australia. Interviews and HCV testing were conducted at 3-monthly intervals. The association between receiving a diagnosis of HCV and (i) injecting frequency and (ii) injecting equipment borrowing, was examined using generalized estimating equations (GEE) analysis.
Thirty-five individuals received a diagnosis of HCV during the study period. Receiving a diagnosis of HCV was associated with a decrease of 0.35 injections per month (p=0.046) but there was no change in injecting equipment borrowing (p=0.750).
A small reduction in injecting frequency was observed in PWID who received a diagnosis of HCV. This finding should be investigated further in larger studies examining a wider range of injecting risk behaviours.
注射吸毒者（PWID）有感染丙型肝炎病毒（HCV）的风险。虽然目前这方面的证据有限，但有理由认为，被诊断出感染HCV的注射吸毒者出于对其注射伙伴的担忧，会降低其注射风险。本研究的目的是调查告知注射吸毒者其HCV诊断结果是否与注射行为的改变有关。
对从澳大利亚墨尔本街头毒品市场招募的注射吸毒者进行前瞻性纵向研究。每隔三个月进行一次访谈和HCV检测。使用广义估计方程（GEE）分析来检验HCV诊断与（i）注射频率和（ii）借用注射设备之间的关联。
在研究期间，有35人被诊断出感染HCV。HCV诊断与每月注射次数减少0.35次有关（p = 0.046），但借用注射设备的情况没有变化（p = 0.750）。
在被诊断出感染HCV的注射吸毒者中，观察到注射频率略有下降。这一发现应在更大规模的研究中进一步调查，这些研究应考察更广泛的注射风险行为。
