Hepatitis C Rapid Point-of-Care Testing and Laboratory-based Non-invasive Assessment of Liver Fibrosis among Drug Abusers: An Experience from Iran.

Autor: Hedayati-Moghaddam MR; Blood Borne Infections Research Center, Academic Center for Education, Culture & Research (ACECR), Razavi Khorasan Branch, Mashhad, Iran.; Razavi Khorasan Hepatitis Association (NGO), Mashhad, Iran., Soltanian H; Blood Borne Infections Research Center, Academic Center for Education, Culture & Research (ACECR), Razavi Khorasan Branch, Mashhad, Iran.; Razavi Khorasan Hepatitis Association (NGO), Mashhad, Iran., Danaee M; Razavi Khorasan Hepatitis Association (NGO), Mashhad, Iran.; Social Sciences Research Group, Research Institute of Tourism, Academic Center for Education, Culture & Research (ACECR), Razavi Khorasan Branch, Mashhad, Iran., Vahedi SA; Academic Center for Education, Culture & Research (ACECR), Razavi Khorasan Branch, Mashhad, Iran.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Archives of Iranian medicine [Arch Iran Med] 2021 Feb 01; Vol. 24 (2), pp. 94-100. Date of Electronic Publication: 2021 Feb 01.
DOI: 10.34172/aim.2021.14
Abstrakt: Background: People who use drugs, particularly injection drug users (IDUs) are known as the major source of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. This study was performed to determine the prevalence of HCV infection using rapid point-of-care testing and to assess liver fibrosis by non-invasive lab tests among addict populations of Mashhad, Iran.
Methods: In this cross-sectional study, drug users who referred to drug treatment and harm reduction centers of Mashhad were enrolled during March and December 2019. A rapid test kit was used to assess the presence of anti-HCV antibodies and a real-time PCR was performed to confirm the infection. The AST-platelet ratio index (APRI) and fibrosis-4 (FIB-4) score were used to investigate liver fibrosis in patients with positive HCV RNA. A P value <0.05 was considered as significant.
Results: A total of 390 drug users aged 15-74 years were assessed. Sixty-four individuals showed positive results for anti-HCV (16.4%), of whom 58 blood samples were available for PCR test. The viremic rate among the latter group was calculated at 84.5% (49/58); the total viremia prevalence was 12.8% (49/384). Multivariate analysis revealed that being single ( P = 0.040) or divorced/ widow ( P = 0.011) and history of drug injection ( P <0.001) and tattoos ( P = 0.021) were significantly associated with current HCV infection. Using APRI and FIB-4 indices, significant liver fibrosis was identified in 14.3% and 18.4% of cases, respectively.
Conclusion: HCV infection screening using rapid tests and examining liver fibrosis by non-invasive lab tests appear to be practicable and useful among poor populations in settings such as drug treatment centers.
(© 2021 The Author(s). This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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