Hepatitis C reinfection amongst PWID in the DAA era, v1.0
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Hepatitis C reinfection amongst people who inject drugs in the direct-acting antiviral era: A qualitative study
IRAS ID
290571
Contact name
Lawrie Elliott
Contact email
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 8 months, 29 days
Research summary
Hepatitis C is a blood borne virus (BBV) which, in Scotland, primarily occurs through injecting drug use. Hepatitis C can be cured using highly effective direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) over a period of twelve weeks. Despite these DAAs having a 95% cure rate (Dore & Feld, 2015), reinfection of Hepatitis C still occurs. Reinfection can be defined as a reoccurrence or Hepatitis C after clearance of the initial virus. The World Health Organisation has outlined a plan for reducing both infection rates and mortality rates by 30% and 10% respectively (The World Health Organisation). Scotland now has a plan in place to eliminate Hepatitis C by 2024. It is therefore important to look at reinfection and understand why reinfection is still occurring. In the study, we will interview people who inject drugs (PWID) to understand their lived experience of Hepatitis C reinfection, examining the social, economic and psychological factors which may contribute to reinfection. We will also interview healthcare professionals (HCPs) to gain insight into how services deal with reinfection, their opinions and how this may help to inform service practice going forward. The study will be conducted at NHS sites, with recruitment taking place via BBV services and also harm reduction service, and recruitment will also take place via 3rd sector organisations, such as We Are With You and the Terrence Higgins Trust. The study should be complete in 2 years, in line with the current PhD structure. It is hoped that the results of the study will contribute to the current approaches in services, helping to inform the treatment strategy, and will ultimately aid in the reduction of reinfection. This would in turn aid the Scottish Governments plan to eliminate Hepatitis C by 2024.
REC name
West of Scotland REC 3
REC reference
20/WS/0169
Date of REC Opinion
16 Dec 2020
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion