Opioid agonist treatment dosage and patient-perceived dosage adequacy, and risk of hepatitis C infection among people who inject drugs.

Opioid agonist treatment dosage and patient-perceived dosage adequacy, and risk of hepatitis C infection among people who inject drugs. CMAJ. 2019 Apr 29;191(17):E462-E468 Authors: Artenie AA, Minoyan N, Jacka B, Høj S, Jutras-Aswad D, Roy É, Gauvin L, Zang G, Bruneau J Abstract BACKGROUND: Opioid agonist treatment is considered important in preventing acquisition of hepatitis C virus (HCV) among people who inject drugs; however, the role of dosage in opioid agonist treatment is unclear. We investigated the joint association of prescribed dosage of opioid agonist treatment and patient-perceived dosage adequacy with risk of HCV infection among people who inject drugs. METHODS: We followed prospectively people who inject drugs at risk of acquiring HCV infection (who were RNA negative and HCV-antibody negative or positive) in Montréal, Canada (2004-2017). At 6-month, then 3-month intervals, participants were tested for HCV antibodies or RNA, and completed an interviewer-administered behavioural questionnaire, reporting the following: current exposure to opioid agonist treatment (yes/no), prescribed dosage either high (methadone ≥ 60 mg/d or buprenorphine ≥ 16 mg/d) or low, and perceived dosage adequacy (adequate/inadequate). We then assigned participants to 1 of 5 exposure categories: no opioid agonist treatment, high dosage of opioid agonist treatment perceived to be adequate, high dosage perceived to be inadequate, low ...
Source: Canadian Medical Association Journal - Category: General Medicine Tags: CMAJ Source Type: research