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Table 1 Characteristics of included studies

From: A systematic review of Hepatitis C virus treatment uptake among people who inject drugs in the European Region

Author, year

Country

Study design

Study population

Study setting: drug treatment clinic

Backmund et al, 2001

Germany

Prospective cohort study

100 drug users who were diagnosed HCV-RNA positive while receiving inpatient detoxification treatment. HCV treatment exclusion criteria included severe depression and HIV-positive diagnosis.

Ebner et al, 2009

Austria

Randomised controlled study

75 HCV-RNA positive drug users diagnosed with opioid dependence and receiving addiction treatment services. Patients were not eligible for HCV treatment unless they were undergoing drug maintenance therapy and/or had not used illicit substances for ≥ 6 months.

Grando-Lemaire et al, 2002

France

Prospective cohort study

225 drug users found to be HCV antibody-positive while they were receiving services at an addiction outpatient unit. Patients were further screened for treatment eligibility via HCV-RNA testing and liver biopsy.

Guadagnino et al, 2007

Italy

Prospective cohort study

169 HCV-RNA positive PWID identified at 11 drug dependency units. These patients were referred to collaborating infectious diseases clinical centres for evaluation regarding their suitability for HCV treatment, then the drug dependency units supervised treatment.

McCormick et al, 2008

Ireland

Prospective cohort study

13 drug treatment clinic patients who were diagnosed HCV-RNA positive and met study inclusion criteria. These included being stable on methadone; having a six-month record of abstinence from intravenous drug use; and having HCV genotype 2 or 3.

Moussalli et al, 2010

France

Cross-sectional study

337 patients at a drug users’ addiction centre: 113 diagnosed HCV-RNA positive before an HCV intervention was introduced, and 224 diagnosed HCV-RNA positive after the introduction of the intervention, which included an on-site multidisciplinary health care team.

Schulte et al, 2010

Germany

Prospective cohort study

301 HCV antibody-positive people receiving heroin maintenance at five drug treatment centres. The hepatitis C treatment study was nested within a heroin maintenance study.

van der Veen, 2009

Netherlands, the

Retrospective cohort study

Patient files examined for 115 HCV-RNA positive PWID at a drug treatment clinic.

Wilkinson et al, 2008

United Kingdom

Retrospective cohort study

441 HCV-RNA positive drug users identified by offering HCV testing to all patients at a drug treatment clinic and referringtreatment candidates to a monthly hepatology outreach clinic within the drug treatment unit.

Witteck et al, 2011

Switzerland

Cross-sectional study

193 HCV-RNA positive patients identified in opioid substitution programmes in two Swiss cities.

Study setting: hepatitis clinic

Cournot et al, 2004

France

Retrospective cohort study

Data for 225 HCV antibody-positive PWID including 41 current PWID analysed as part of a study of a larger cohort of 435 people attending inpatient and outpatient clinics at a hospital hepato-gastroenterology unit.

Crespo et al, 2001

Spain

Prospective cohort study

416 HCV antibody-positive PWID were among 1269 people referred for therapeutic evaluation at a university hospital-based hepatitis clinic.

Gazdag et al, 2010

Hungary

Retrospective cohort study

83 HCV-RNA positive PWID at a hepatology outpatient clinic.

Jowett et al, 2000

United Kingdom

Retrospective cohort study

253 HCV antibody-positive patients who attended a regional (referral) liver unit and who had reported injecting drug use as their main risk factor for HCV.

Kieran et al, 2011

Ireland

Retrospective cohort study

Subset of 327 HCV-RNA positive people reporting injecting drug use as their HCV risk factor at a clinic for the integrated management of HIV and HCV.

Study setting: other/unknown

Broers et al, 2005

Switzerland

Prospective cohort study

22 PWID included in a cohort of 27 patients offered treatment upon being diagnosed with acute or subacute hepatitis C.

Cullen et al, 2007

Ireland

Retrospective cohort study

104 HCV antibody-positive drug users who were among a cohort of 196 drug users prescribed methadone maintenance by general practitioners.

Defossez et al, 2008

France

Cross-sectional study

HCV antibody-positive people who reported drug use as a presumed mode of infection in cross-sectional studies of patients newly diagnosed with HCV in 1997, 2000 and 2003. (Total numbers of newly diagnosed patients were 69, 58 and 96 respectively.)

Hernandez et al, 2009

Spain

Retrospective cohort study

Four HCV-RNA positive PWID in a hospital-based setting.

Jack et al, 2009

United Kingdom

Prospective cohort study

174 HCV antibody-positive drug users engaged in drug treatment services in a primary care environment.

Kristensen et al, 2009

Norway

Prospective cohort study

Heroin-dependent patients in medical rehabilitation.

Lindenburg et al, 2011

Netherlands, the

Prospective cohort study

277 HCV antibody-positive drug users referred to a hepatitis C treatment project for drug users.

Perez-Alvarez et al, 2012

Spain

Retrospective cohort study

27 PWID within a cohort of 131 patients with acute HCV at 18 Spanish hospitals.

Perut et al, 2009

France

Retrospective cohort study

137 currently opioid-dependent people included in a cohort of HCV-RNA positive inpatients or outpatients at a Paris hospital.

Reiberger et al, 2011

Austria and Germany

Retrospective cohort study

Study of HIV/HCV co-infected patients in 14 specialised clinical centres included 637 people who reported injecting drug use as HCV transmission route.