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. 2019 Jan;114(1):150-166.
doi: 10.1111/add.14393. Epub 2018 Aug 28.

Global, regional, and country-level estimates of hepatitis C infection among people who have recently injected drugs

Jason Grebely  1 , Sarah Larney  2 , Amy Peacock  2 , Samantha Colledge  2 , Janni Leung  2   3 , Matthew Hickman  4 , Peter Vickerman  4 , Sarah Blach  5 , Evan B Cunningham  1 , Kostyantyn Dumchev  6 , Michael Lynskey  7 , Jack Stone  4 , Adam Trickey  4 , Homie Razavi  5 , Richard P Mattick  2 , Michael Farrell  2 , Gregory J Dore  1 , Louisa Degenhardt  2
Affiliations

Global, regional, and country-level estimates of hepatitis C infection among people who have recently injected drugs

Jason Grebely et al. Addiction. 2019 Jan.

Abstract

Background and aims: People who have recently injected drugs are a priority population in efforts to achieve hepatitis C virus (HCV) elimination. This study estimated the prevalence and number of people with recent injecting drug use living with HCV, and the proportion of people with recent injecting drug use among all people living with HCV infection at global, regional and country-levels.

Methods: Data from a global systematic review of injecting drug use and HCV antibody prevalence among people with recent (previous year) injecting drug use were used to estimate the prevalence and number of people with recent injecting drug use living with HCV. These data were combined with a systematic review of global HCV prevalence to estimate the proportion of people with recent injecting drug use among all people living with HCV.

Results: There are an estimated 6.1 million [95% uncertainty interval (UI) = 3.4-9.2] people with recent injecting drug use aged 15-64 years living with HCV globally (39.2% viraemic prevalence; UI = 31.6-47.0), with the greatest numbers in East and Southeast Asia (1.5 million, UI = 1.0-2.1), eastern Europe (1.5 million, UI = 0.7-2.4) and North America (1.0 million, UI = 0.4-1.7). People with recent injecting drug use comprise an estimated 8.5% (UI = 4.6-13.1) of all HCV infections globally, with the greatest proportions in North America (30.5%, UI = 11.7-56.7), Latin America (22.0%, UI = 15.3-30.4) and eastern Europe (17.9%, UI = 8.2-30.9).

Conclusions: Although, globally, 39.2% of people with recent injecting drug use are living with hepatitis C virus (HCV) and 8.5% of all HCV infections occur globally among people with recent injecting drug use, there is wide variation among countries and regions.

Keywords: Estimates; HCV; IDU; PWID; injecting drug use; viraemic.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Estimated prevalence of HCV viraemic infection among people with recent injecting drug use, by country
Figure 2
Figure 2
Estimated number of people with recent injecting drug use living with HCV viraemic infection, by country
Figure 3
Figure 3. Countries with the greatest total number of people with HCV viraemic infection among people with recent injecting drug use globally.
The size of the bubble represents the total proportion of hepatitis C viraemic infections that among people with recent injecting drug use. An X indicates that data were not available to calculate the total proportion of viraemic HCV infections among people with recent injecting drug use.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Estimated proportion of people with recent injecting drug use among the total population with HCV viraemic infection, by country
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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References

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