Low levels of hepatitis C diagnosis and testing uptake among people who inject image and performance enhancing drugs in England and Wales, 2012-15

•One in 20 people who inject image & performance enhancing drugs (IPEDs) have hepatitis C antibodies.•Uptake of hepatitis C testing was poor; less than two-fifths had ever been tested.•Among those only injecting IPEDs, most were not aware of having hepatitis C antibodies. People injecting image...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Drug and alcohol dependence 2017-10, Vol.179, p.83-86
Main Authors: Hope, V.D., McVeigh, J., Smith, J., Glass, R., Njoroge, J., Tanner, C., Parry, J.V., Ncube, F., Desai, M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Diagnosis
Diagnostic tests
Drugs
England - epidemiology
Health risks
Hepacivirus
Hepatitis
Hepatitis C
Hepatitis C Antibodies - blood
Hepatitis C Antibodies - immunology
High risk
Humans
Image and performance enhancing drugs
Image enhancement
Infections
Injecting drug use
Medical diagnosis
Medical tests
Men
Performance-Enhancing Substances - chemistry
Performance-Enhancing Substances - pharmacology
Polls & surveys
Prevalence
Psychotropic drugs
Risk
Steroids
Substance Abuse, Intravenous - epidemiology
Surveys and Questionnaires
Testing
Undiagnosed
Uptake
Viruses
Wales - epidemiology
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Summary:•One in 20 people who inject image & performance enhancing drugs (IPEDs) have hepatitis C antibodies.•Uptake of hepatitis C testing was poor; less than two-fifths had ever been tested.•Among those only injecting IPEDs, most were not aware of having hepatitis C antibodies. People injecting image and performance enhancing drugs (IPEDs) have traditionally not been perceived as being at high risk of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. However, recent studies indicate the HCV antibody (anti-HCV) prevalence in this group is 10-times that in the general population. HCV testing uptake and undiagnosed infections are examined using data from a voluntary unlinked-anonymous survey. People injecting IPEDs across England and Wales completed a short bio-behavioural survey (2012–15). Anti-HCV status and self-reports of HCV testing were used in the analysis. The participants median age was 31 years, 98% were men, 14% had also injected psychoactive drugs and the anti-HCV prevalence was 4.8% (N=564). Among those who had never injected psychoactive drugs the anti-HCV prevalence was 1.4%; among those who had recently injected psychoactive drugs (preceding 12 months) prevalence was 39% and among those who had done this previously 14% (p
ISSN:0376-8716
1879-0046
DOI:10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2017.06.018