Drug use stigma and its association with active hepatitis C virus infection and injection drug use behaviors among community-based people who inject drugs in India.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Although drug use stigma is globally pervasive, quantitative evidence of its role in hepatitis C virus (HCV) transmission is limited. We evaluated the psychometric properties of a drug use stigma scale and examined the association between drug use stigma and active HCV infection among a community-based sample of people who inject drugs (PWID) in India.

Methods

Between 8/2016 and 5/2017, a cross-sectional sample of PWID was recruited from 12 Indian cities (~1000/city) using respondent-driven sampling. Participants were ≥18 years old and reported injection drug use (IDU) in the past 2 years. Multivariable logistic regression with a random-intercept for each city was used to estimate adjusted odds ratios (aOR) of active HCV infection (RNA>30 IU/mL). Analyses incorpor

SUBMITTER: Patel EU 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8568639 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature