TY - JOUR
TI - Hepatitis C Virus Infection Epidemiology among People Who Inject Drugs
in Europe: A Systematic Review of Data for Scaling Up Treatment and
Prevention
AU - Wiessing, Lucas
AU - Ferri, Marica
AU - Grady, Bart
AU - Kantzanou, Maria
AU - and Sperle, Ida
AU - Cullen, Katelyn J.
AU - Hatzakis, Angelos
AU - Prins,
AU - Maria
AU - Vickerman, Peter
AU - Lazarus, Jeffrey V.
AU - Hope, Vivian D.
AU - and Mathei, Catharina
AU - Busch, Martin
AU - Bollaerts, Kaat and
AU - Bogdanova, Violeta
AU - Nesheva, Elmira
AU - Fotsiou, Nasia
AU - Kostrikis,
AU - Leontios
AU - Mravcik, Viktor
AU - Rehak, Vratislav
AU - Castkova, Jitka
AU - and Hobstova, Jirlina
AU - Nechanska, Blanka
AU - Fouchard, Jan and
AU - Abel-Ollo, Katri
AU - Tefanova, Valentina
AU - Tallo, Tatjana and
AU - Brummer-Korvenkontio, Henrikki
AU - Brisacier, Anne-Claire
AU - Michot,
AU - Isabelle
AU - Jauffret-Roustide, Marie
AU - Zimmermann, Ruth
AU - Fotiou,
AU - Anastasios
AU - Gazdag, Gabor
AU - Tarjan, Anna
AU - Galvin, Brian and
AU - Garavan, Carrie
AU - Thornton, Lelia
AU - Cruciani, Mario
AU - Basso,
AU - Monica
AU - Karnite, Anda
AU - Caplinskiene, Irma
AU - Lopes, Sofia and
AU - Origer, Alain
AU - Melillo, Jackie
AU - Camilleri, Moses
AU - Demanuele,
AU - Carlo Olivari
AU - Croes, Esther
AU - Op de Coul, Eline
AU - Rosinska,
AU - Magdalena
AU - Struzik, Marta
AU - Martins, Mario
AU - Duran, Domingos and
AU - Vilar, Graca
AU - Resende, Emilia
AU - Martins, Helena Cortes
AU - Abagiu,
AU - Adrian Octavian
AU - Ruta, Simona
AU - Arama, Victoria
AU - Kopilovic,
AU - Boris
AU - Kustec, Tanja
AU - Klavs, Irena
AU - Aleixandre, Noelia Llorens
AU - and Folch, Cinta
AU - Bravo, Maria Jose
AU - Gomez, Rosario Sendino and
AU - Berglund, Torsten
AU - Strandberg, Joakim
AU - Hope, Vivian
AU - Hotho,
AU - Daphne
AU - Van Houdt, Sabine
AU - Low, Andrea
AU - Mcdonald, Bethan and
AU - Platt, Lucy
AU - Isabelle Giraudon, Eleni Kalamara
AU - Groshkova, Teodora
AU - and Palladino, Claudia
AU - Hutchinson, Sharon
AU - Ncube, Fortune and
AU - Eramova, Irina
AU - Goldberg, David
AU - Vicente, Julian
AU - Griffiths,
AU - Paul
AU - EMCDDA DRID Grp
JO - PLOS ONE
PY - 2014
VL - 9
TODO - 7
SP - null
PB - Public Library of Science
SN - null
TODO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0103345
TODO - null
TODO - Background: People who inject drugs (PWID) are a key population affected
by hepatitis C virus (HCV). Treatment options are improving and may
enhance prevention; however access for PWID may be poor. The
availability in the literature of information on seven main topic areas
(incidence, chronicity, genotypes, HIV co-infection, diagnosis and
treatment uptake, and burden of disease) to guide HCV treatment and
prevention scale-up for PWID in the 27 countries of the European Union
is systematically reviewed.
Methods and Findings: We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE and Cochrane Library
for publications between 1 January 2000 and 31 December 2012, with a
search strategy of general keywords regarding viral hepatitis, substance
abuse and geographic scope, as well as topic-specific keywords.
Additional articles were found through structured email consultations
with a large European expert network. Data availability was highly
variable and important limitations existed in comparability and
representativeness. Nine of 27 countries had data on HCV incidence among
PWID, which was often high (2.7-66/100 person-years, median 13,
Interquartile range (IQR) 8.7-28). Most common HCV genotypes were G1 and
G3; however, G4 may be increasing, while the proportion of traditionally
‘difficult to treat’ genotypes (G1+G4) showed large variation (median
53,IQR 43-62). Twelve countries reported on HCV chronicity (median 72,
IQR 64-81) and 22 on HIV prevalence in HCV-infected PWID (median 3.9%,
IQR 0.2-28). Undiagnosed infection, assessed in five countries, was high
(median 49%, IQR 38-64), while of those diagnosed, the proportion
entering treatment was low (median 9.5%, IQR 3.5-15). Burden of
disease, where assessed, was high and will rise in the next decade.
Conclusion: Key data on HCV epidemiology, care and disease burden among
PWID in Europe are sparse but suggest many undiagnosed infections and
poor treatment uptake. Stronger efforts are needed to improve data
availability to guide an increase in HCV treatment among PWID.
ER -