The Effectiveness of Low Dead Space Syringes for Reducing the Risk of Hepatitis C Virus Acquisition Among People Who Inject Drugs: Findings From a National Survey in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland.

Abstract

Syringes with attached needles (termed fixed low dead space syringes [LDSS]) retain less blood following injection than syringes with detachable needles, but evidence on them reducing blood-borne virus transmission among people who inject drugs (PWID) is lacking. Utilizing the UK Unlinked Anonymous Monitoring cross-sectional bio-behavioral surveys among PWID for 2016/18/19 (n = 1429), we showed that always using fixed LDSS was associated with 76% lower likelihood (adjusted odds ratio  = 0.24, 95% confidence interval [CI]: .08-.67) of recent hepatitis C virus infection (RNA-positive and antibody-negative) among antibody-negative PWID compared to using any syringes with detachable needles.

• Authors: Adam Trickey, Sara Croxford, Eva Emanuel, Samreen Ijaz, Matthew Hickman, Joanna Kesten, Clare Thomas, Claire Edmundson, Monica Desai, Peter Vickerman
• Journal: Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America (Clin Infect Dis) Vol. 75 Issue 6 Pg. 1073-1077 (09 29 2022) ISSN: 1537-6591 [Electronic] United States
• PMID: 35184173 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't, Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural)
• Copyright: © The Author(s) 2022. Published by Oxford University Press for the Infectious Diseases Society of America.

Chemical References

• RNA

Topics

• Cross-Sectional Studies
• Drug Users
• England (epidemiology)
• HIV Infections (complications)
• Hepacivirus
• Hepatitis C (complications, epidemiology, prevention & control)
• Humans
• Northern Ireland (epidemiology)
• RNA
• Substance Abuse, Intravenous (complications)
• Syringes
• Wales (epidemiology)