Asadi Neda, Pourkhajoei Sirous
Nursing Research Center Kerman University of Medical Sciences Kerman Iran.
Faculty of Management and Medical Information Sciences Kerman University of Medical Sciences Kerman Iran.
Health Sci Rep. 2025 Mar 3;8(3):e70501. doi: 10.1002/hsr2.70501. eCollection 2025 Mar.
Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a major global health issue. Injecting drug users (IDUs) are an important group at risk of HCV infection. Therefore, this study was undertaken to determine the related high-risk behavioral factors and the effectiveness of addiction treatment centers in preventing the transmission of HCV among IDUs referring to governmental methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) centers in Southeast Iran.
This analytical study was conducted as a pre- and post-intervention assessment without a control group in first 6 months of 2022. 313 IDUs receiving methadone from five governmental MMT centers in Kerman were interviewed in the form of a census. Effectiveness was measured using mathematical formulas and patterns based on high-risk injecting behaviors.
Of the 313 participants, 299 (95.84%) were men, the mean age ± SD was 41.06 ± 8.73 years and HCV prevalence was 113 (36.1%). The results showed that MMT centers avoided 23.55 new cases of HCV per 100 people. The studied IDUs reported minor rate of risky injecting and sexual behavior after participation in MMT program. The communal incidence of HCV per 100 IDUs due to shared injection and unsafe sexual connection with MMT program were 13.89 (95% CI: 5.43-19.63), 0.0003 (0.0002-0.0007) and without it 37.44 (24.34-46.78) and 0.0002 (0.0001-0.0004) respectively.
The MMT program is an effective intervention to prevent HCV infection, a comparison of its effectiveness with other interventions is needed.
丙型肝炎病毒（HCV）感染是一个重大的全球健康问题。注射吸毒者（IDU）是感染HCV的重要高危群体。因此，本研究旨在确定相关的高危行为因素，以及戒毒治疗中心在伊朗东南部政府美沙酮维持治疗（MMT）中心的注射吸毒者中预防HCV传播的有效性。
本分析研究在2022年的前6个月进行，作为干预前后的评估，无对照组。对克尔曼五个政府MMT中心的313名接受美沙酮治疗的注射吸毒者进行了普查形式的访谈。基于高危注射行为，使用数学公式和模式来衡量有效性。
在313名参与者中，299名（95.84%）为男性，平均年龄±标准差为41.06±8.73岁，HCV患病率为113例（36.1%）。结果显示，MMT中心每100人可避免23.55例新的HCV病例。参与MMT项目后，所研究的注射吸毒者报告的危险注射和性行为发生率较低。因与MMT项目共用注射器和不安全的性行为，每100名注射吸毒者中HCV的社区发病率分别为13.89（95%CI：5.43 - 19.63）、0.0003（0.0002 - 0.0007），未参与MMT项目时分别为37.44（24.34 - 46.78）和0.0002（0.0001 - 0.0004）。
MMT项目是预防HCV感染的有效干预措施，需要将其有效性与其他干预措施进行比较。
