Dataset Information

Egocentric network characteristics of people who inject drugs in the Chicago metro area and associations with hepatitis C virus and injection risk behavior.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Hepatitis C (HCV) infection has been rising in the suburban and rural USA, mainly via injection-based transmission. Injection and sexual networks are recognized as an important element in fostering and preventing risky behavior; however, the role of social support networks has received somewhat less attention.

Methods

Using baseline data from an ongoing longitudinal study, we examined the composition and structure of injection drug use (IDU), sex, and social support networks of young people who inject drugs (aged 18-30) and their injection network members. Lasso logistic regression was used to select a subset of network characteristics that were potentially important predictors of injection risk behaviors and HCV exposure.

Results

Several measures of IDU, sexual, and support network structure and composition were found to be associated with HCV exposure, receptive syringe sharing (RSS), and ancillary equipment sharing. Gender and sexual relationships were important factors for all risk behaviors. Support network characteristics were also important, notably including a protective effect of majority Hispanic support networks for RSS and HCV exposure. Both IDU network residence heterogeneity and support network geography were associated with injection equipment sharing.

Conclusions

The associations of IDU and support network geography with equipment sharing highlight the need to extend harm reduction efforts beyond urban areas. Greater understanding of support network influences on risk behavior may provide important insights to strengthen the benefits of harm reduction. In considering the probability of HCV transmission, it is important to consider setting and network structures that promote propagation of risk.

SUBMITTER: Mackesy-Amiti ME

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9161656 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Egocentric network characteristics of people who inject drugs in the Chicago metro area and associations with hepatitis C virus and injection risk behavior.

Mackesy-Amiti Mary Ellen ME Falk Joshua J Latkin Carl C Kaufmann Maggie M Williams Leslie L Boodram Basmattee B

Harm reduction journal 20220602 1

<h4>Background</h4>Hepatitis C (HCV) infection has been rising in the suburban and rural USA, mainly via injection-based transmission. Injection and sexual networks are recognized as an important element in fostering and preventing risky behavior; however, the role of social support networks has received somewhat less attention.<h4>Methods</h4>Using baseline data from an ongoing longitudinal study, we examined the composition and structure of injection drug use (IDU), sex, and social support net ...[more]

PMID: 35655222

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Project description:Background and aimsPersons who inject drugs (PWID) are at highest risk for acquiring and transmitting hepatitis C (HCV) infection. The recent availability of oral direct-acting antiviral (DAA) therapy with reported cure rates >90% can prevent HCV transmission, making HCV elimination an attainable goal among PWID. The World Health Organization (WHO) recently proposed a 90% reduction in HCV incidence as a key objective. However, given barriers to the use of DAAs in PWID, including cost, restricted access to DAAs, and risk of reinfection, combination strategies including the availability of effective vaccines are needed to eradicate HCV as a public health threat. This study aims to model the cost and efficacy of a dual modality approach using HCV vaccines combined with DAAs to reduce HCV incidence by 90% and prevalence by 50% in PWID populations.MethodsWe developed a mathematical model that represents the HCV epidemic among PWID and calibrated it to empirical data from metropolitan Chicago, Illinois. Four medical interventions were considered: vaccination of HCV naive PWID, DAA treatment, DAA treatment followed by vaccination, and, a combination of vaccination and DAA treatment.ResultsThe combination of vaccination and DAAs is the lowest cost-expensive intervention for achieving the WHO target of 90% incidence reduction. The use of DAAs without a vaccine is much less cost-effective with the additional risk of reinfection after treatment. Vaccination of naïve PWID alone, even when scaled-up to all reachable PWID, cannot achieve 90% reduction of incidence in high-prevalence populations due to infections occurring before vaccination. Similarly, the lowest cost-expensive way to halve prevalence in 15 years is through the combination of vaccination and DAAs.ConclusionsThe modeling results underscore the importance of developing an effective HCV vaccine and augmenting DAAs with vaccines in HCV intervention strategies in order to achieve efficient reductions in incidence and prevalence.

Dataset Information

Egocentric network characteristics of people who inject drugs in the Chicago metro area and associations with hepatitis C virus and injection risk behavior.

Background

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Publications

Egocentric network characteristics of people who inject drugs in the Chicago metro area and associations with hepatitis C virus and injection risk behavior.

Similar Datasets

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