Progress and challenges in the elimination of hepatitis C among people who inject drugs in Germany: results of a pilot study for a national monitoring system, 10 years after the first data collection

Steffen, Gyde; Krings, Amrei; Guttmann, Sarah; Lübke, Nadine; Meyer-Schlinkmann, Kristin; Tiemann, Carsten; Timm, Jörg; Walker, Andreas; Zimmermann, Ruth

doi:10.1186/s12954-024-01119-2

Harm Reduction Journal

Table 1 Recruitment details, sociodemographic and behavioural characteristics, hepatitis B-, hepatitis C- and HIV-status of the study population, DRUCK 2.0 study (2021–2022, N = 588)

From: Progress and challenges in the elimination of hepatitis C among people who inject drugs in Germany: results of a pilot study for a national monitoring system, 10 years after the first data collection

N = 588
Variable	n	%
Blood sample method
Capillary blood/ dried blood spots	549	93
Venous blood/ serum	39	6.6
City of recruitment
Augsburg	81	14
Berlin	143	24
Ingolstadt	4	0.5
Munich	105	18
Nuremberg	78	13
Regensburg	174	30
Wurzburg	3	0.5
Setting of recruitment
Contact cafés/ outreach services	404	69
Drug consumption rooms	112	19
Drug counselling centres	21	3.6
OAT practices	51	8.7
Age group*
< 25 years	31	5
25–39 years	278	47
40 years and older	279	47
Gender*
Men	399	68
Women	184	31
Diverse	4	0.7
Country of birth*
Germany	458	78
Abroad	130	22
UN-birth region, if born abroad*
Northern Europe	4	3.2
Western Europe	6	4.8
Eastern Europe	52	42
Southern Europe	17	14
Outside Europe	45	36
Years with residence in Germany, if born abroad*
Less than 5 years	7	5.6
5–9 years	20	16
10 years or more	97	78
History of homelessness*
Yes	428	75
No	141	25
Currently	139	25
Not currently/ never	408	75
History of imprisonment*
Yes	444	77
No	133	23
Within last 12 months	146	25
Not within last 12 months/ never	427	75
Injection drug use during last imprisonment, if history of imprisonment*
Yes	105	24
No	329	76
Injection drug use within the last 30 days*
Yes	487	84
No	93	16
Drug used most often within the last 30 days: Opioid*
Yes	376	70
No	160	30
Drug used most often within the last 30 days: Cocaine*
Yes	76	14
No	459	86
Drug used most often within the last 30 days: Methamphetamine*
Yes	44	8.2
No	491	92
History of overdose with unconsciousness*
Yes	390	69
No	177	31
Within last 30 days ^§	48	10
Not within last 30 days/ never ^§	421	90
Years since first drug injection*
Less than 2 years	32	5.6
2–4 years	42	7.4
5 years or more	497	87
History of shared needles/ syringes*
Yes	320	57
No	242	43
Within last 30 days ^§	66	14
Not within last 30 days/ never ^§	403	86
History of shared spoons, filters, water for drug preparation*
Yes	405	72
No	161	28
Within last 30 days ^§	138	29
Not within last 30 days/ never ^§	335	71
Use of sterile needle for the last injection*^§
Yes	444	93
No	35	7
History of opioid agonist therapy (OAT)*
Yes	483	84
No	91	16
Currently	353	61
Not currently/ never	221	39
History of HCV testing*
Yes	540	95
No	27	5
Within last 12 months	351	63
Not within in the last 12 months/ never	205	37
Anti-HCV positivity (HCV RNA positive or negative)**
Yes	432	73
No	156	27
History of HCV treatment, if anti-HCV positive*
Yes	193	51
No	185	49
Currently	23	6.1
Not currently/ never	355	94
Viraemic HCV infection (HCV RNA positive, anti-HCV positive or negative)**
Yes	160	27
No	428	73
HIV infected**
Yes	14	2.4
No	568	98
HBV cleared/ infected**
Yes	105	18
No	476	82

*self-reported, ** assessed from blood analysis, ^§analysis limited to participants with injection drug use in the last 30 days
Missing data in total sample: gender (1), birth region (6), years with residence in Germany (6), history of homelessness (19), current homelessness (41), history of imprisonment (11), history of imprisonment last 12 months (15), drug injection during last imprisonment (10), injections drug use last 30 days (8), main drug last 30 days (53), history of overdose (21), history of overdose last 30 days (18), years since first drug injection (17), history of shared needles/ syringes (26), history of shared needles/ syringes last 30 days (18), history of shared spoons, filters, water for drug preparation (22), history of shared spoons, filters, water for drug preparation last 30 days (14), use of sterile needle for last drug preparation (8), history of OAT (14), history of HCV testing (21), history of HCV testing last 12 months (32), history of HCV treatment (54), history of current HCV treatment (54), HIV infection (6), HBV infection (7)

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ISSN: 1477-7517

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