The Investigation of HIV and HCV Infection and Risk Factors among Opiate Drug Users in Beijing, China

Abstract

Objective: To explore the prevalence of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) and the risk factors among opiate drug users in Beijing. Methods: The opiate drug users enrolled in methadone maintenance treatment clinics of Beijing from 30 November 2004 to 31 March 2008 were investigated. The blood samples were collected and tested for HIV and HCV infection and questionnaires were used for all subjects admitted. Results: Among 1211 eligible subjects, 12 HIV and 713 HCV-positive subjects were observed; the HIV and HCV prevalences were .99% and 58.88%, respectively. Young age, unemployment, injection drug use, and more frequent and longer drug use were the independent risk factors for HCV infection using the multiple logistic regression analysis. The younger drug users are more likely to be infected than the older ones, and the adjusted odds ratios (OR) of 18–30 and 30–40 versus 40–54 years were 1.81 (95% confidence interval (95% CI): 1.13–1.92) and 1.51 (95% CI: 1.08–2.10). The drug users who were unemployed (OR = 1.70, 95% CI: 1.23–2.37), with injection drug use (OR = 10.99, 95% CI: 7.26–16.65), with more frequent drug use (OR = 2.42, 95% CI: 1.31–2.46), and with longer heroin abuse history (OR = 8.06, 95% CI: 1.19–57.54) were more likely to be infected with HCV. Conclusions: The HCV infection was popular among opiate drug users in Beijing. The findings indicated the need for educating the users taking into account their low literacy levels and the necessity for job training and decreasing the injection drug use and the frequency of drug use administrated as the prevention and intervention methods for controlling the HIV/HCV infection in this population.

• human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)
• hepatitis C virus (HCV)
• opiate drug users
• MMT
• China

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This work was supported by the Eleventh Five-Year Program of the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology (2007BAI07B04 and 2008ZX10001-003), the National Basic Research Program of China (No. 2009CB522007), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81001265). The authors thank all interviewers from first to eighth MMT clinics in Beijing and all the participants for their cooperation.

Declaration of Interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this article.