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Abstract Details
Integrated treatment of hepatitis C virus infection among people who inject drugs: A multicenter randomized controlled trial (INTRO-HCV)
PLoS Med. 2021 Jun 1;18(6):e1003653. doi: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1003653.eCollection 2021 Jun.
Lars T Fadnes12, Christer Frode Aas12, Jørn Henrik Vold12, Rafael Alexander Leiva3, Christian Ohldieck1, Fatemeh Chalabianloo12, Svetlana Skurtveit45, Ole Jørgen Lygren16, Olav Dalgård78, Peter Vickerman9, Håvard Midgard710, Else-Marie Løberg11112, Kjell Arne Johansson12, INTRO-HCV Study Group
Author information
1Bergen Addiction Research, Department of Addiction Medicine, Haukeland University Hospital, Norway.
2Department of Global Public Health and Primary Care, University of Bergen, Norway.
3Department of Medicine, Haukeland University Hospital, Norway.
4Norwegian Centre for Addiction Research, University of Oslo, Norway.
5Department of Mental Disorders, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway.
6ProLAR Nett, Norway.
7Department of Infectious Diseases, Akershus University Hospital, Lørenskog, Norway.
8Institute for Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo, Norway.
9Population Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, United Kingdom.
10Department of Gastroenterology, Oslo University Hospital, Norway.
11Department of Clinical Psychology, University of Bergen, Norway.
12Division of Psychiatry, Haukeland University Hospital, Norway.
Abstract
Background: The standard pathways of testing and treatment for hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in tertiary healthcare are not easily accessed by people who inject drugs (PWID). The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of integrated treatment of chronic HCV infection among PWID.
Methods and findings: INTRO-HCV is a multicenter, randomized controlled clinical trial. Participants recruited from opioid agonist therapy (OAT) and community care clinics in Norway over 2017 to 2019 were randomly 1:1 assigned to the 2 treatment approaches. Integrated treatment was delivered by multidisciplinary teams at opioid agonist treatment clinics or community care centers (CCCs) for people with substance use disorders. This included on-site testing for HCV, liver fibrosis assessment, counseling, treatment, and posttreatment follow-up. Standard treatment was delivered in hospital outpatient clinics. Oral direct-acting antiviral (DAA) medications were administered in both arms. The study was not completely blinded. The primary outcomes were time-to-treatment initiation and sustained virologic response (SVR), defined as undetectable HCV RNA 12 weeks after treatment completion, analyzed with intention to treat, and presented as hazard ratio (HR) and odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence intervals. Among 298 included participants, 150 were randomized to standard treatment, of which 116/150 (77%) initiated treatment, with 108/150 (72%) initiating within 1 year of referral. Among those 148 randomized to integrated care, 145/148 (98%) initiated treatment, with 141/148 (95%) initiating within 1 year of referral. The HR for the time to initiating treatment in the integrated arm was 2.2 (1.7 to 2.9) compared to standard treatment. SVR was confirmed in 123 (85% of initiated/83% of all) for integrated treatment compared to 96 (83% of initiated/64% of all) for the standard treatment (OR among treated: 1.5 [0.8 to 2.9], among all: 2.8 [1.6 to 4.8]). No severe adverse events were linked to the treatment.
Conclusions: Integrated treatment for HCV in PWID was superior to standard treatment in terms of time-to-treatment initiation, and subsequently, more people achieved SVR. Among those who initiated treatment, the SVR rates were comparable. Scaling up of integrated treatment models could be an important tool for elimination of HCV.