Wright, N.M.J. and Tompkins, C.N.E. (2006) A review of the evidence for the effectiveness of primary prevention interventions for Hepatitis C among injecting drug users. Harm Reduction Journal, 3 (27). ISSN 1477-7517
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Hepatitis C (HCV) prevalence is most common amongst injecting drug users where up to 98% of the population can be infected despite a low prevalence of HIV. This review considers the evidence for the effectiveness of primary prevention interventions to reduce incidence or prevalence of hepatitis C.
MEHODS
Systematic review of the major electronic medical databases: Medline, EMBASE, PsycINFO, CINAHL and the Cochrane Library (Evidence Based Health). Either intervention or observational studies were included if they described an intervention targeting injecting drug using populations with the outcome to reduce either the prevalence or incidence of hepatitis C infection.
RESULTS
18 papers were included in the final review from 1007 abstracts. Needle exchange programmes reduce the prevalence of HCV though prevalence remains high. Similarly the effectiveness of methadone maintenance treatment is only marginally effective at reducing HCV incidence. There is limited evidence evaluating either the effectiveness of behavioural interventions, bleach disinfectants, or drug consumption rooms.
CONCLUSION
Primary prevention interventions have led to a reduction in HIV incidence, have been less effective at reducing HCV incidence. Global prevalence of HCV remains disturbingly high in injecting drug users. A robust response to the global health problem of HCV will require provision of new interventions. Behavioural interventions; distribution of bleach disinfectant; other injecting paraphernalia alongside sterile needle distribution; and evaluation of drug consumption rooms merit further expansion internationally and research activity to contribute to the emerging evidence base. Whilst the prevalence of HCV remains high, nevertheless many current interventions aimed at primary HCV prevention have been shown to be cost-effective due to their significant positive impact upon prevalence of HIV.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2006 Wright and Tompkins; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Medicine and Health (Leeds) > School of Medicine (Leeds) > Leeds Institute of Health Sciences (Leeds) > Academic Unit of Primary Care (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Sherpa Assistant |
Date Deposited: | 26 Jan 2007 |
Last Modified: | 13 Jun 2014 04:14 |
Published Version: | http://www.harmreductionjournal.com/content/3/1/27 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | BioMed Central |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1186/1477-7517-3-27 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:1933 |