Table 1. Characteristics of participants in Australian Trial in Acute Hepatitis C, by treatment group and HCV RNA status at baseline.
| Characteristic | Total population | Treated | Untreated | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RNA positive at enrolment | RNA negative at enrolment | |||
| Total, n | 163 | 111 | 34 | 18 |
| Age, years, mean (sd) | 34.1(±9.6) | 34.3(±10.4) | 34.6 (±9.0) | 32.1 (±8.3) |
| Male, n (%) | 116 (71%) | 83 (75%) | 22 (65%) | 11 (61%) |
| Body mass index, kg/m2, median (IQR) | 23.3 (21–26) | 23.3 (21–25) | 22.4 (20–26) | 25.6 (23–31) |
| Caucasian ethnicity, n (%) | 149 (91%) | 99 (89%) | 33 (97%) | 17 (94%) |
| Tertiary education or greater, n (%) | 66 (40%) | 51 (46%) | 9 (26%) | 6 (33%) |
| Regular employment, n (%) | 63 (39%) | 52 (47%) | 9 (26%) | 2 (11%) |
| Accommodation stable, n (%) | 140 (86%) | 97 (87%) | 29 (85%) | 14 (78%) |
| Opiate substitution therapy, current, n (%) | 22 (14%) | 12 (11%) | 6 (18%) | 4 (22%) |
| Mode of HCV transmission, n (%) | ||||
| Injecting behaviour | 119 (73%) | 77 (69%) | 26 (76%) | 16 (90%) |
| Sexual behaviour | 29 (18%) | 25 (23%) | 3 (9%) | 1 (5%) |
| Other or unknown | 15 (9%) | 9 (8%) | 5 (15%) | 1 (5%) |
| Injecting drug use, n (%) | ||||
| Ever | 124 (76%) | 84 (76%) | 28 (82%) | 12 (67%) |
| Within last 6 months | 102 (63%) | 69 (62%) | 23 (68%) | 10 (57%) |
| Within last 1 month | 55 (36%) | 31 (28%) | 16 (47%) | 8 (44%) |
| Borrowed syringe or needle/last month | 9/55 (16%) | 7/31 (24%) | 2/16 (13%) | 0/8 |
| Shared injecting equipment/last month | 28/55 (51%) | 15/31(48%) | 10/16 (53%) | 3/8 (38%) |
| Alcohol use, n (%) | ||||
| Any drinks in last month (n = 150) | 95 (58%) | 73 (66%) | 14 (41%) | 8 (44%) |
| >2 drinks/day in last month, (n = 148) | 18 (11%) | 10 (9%) | 3 (9%) | 5 (28%) |
| Quality of life (n = 151) | ||||
| Physical component score, median (IQR) | 53.6 (46–58) | 54.3 (46–58) | 52.1 (46–57) | 50.4 (42–59) |
| Mental component score, median (IQR) | 45.8 (35–54) | 47.8 (38–55) | 39.2 (32–48) | 40.4 (27–53) |
| Social functioning score1, median (IQR) (n = 146) | 13 (8–19) | 11 (7–17) | 16 (10–20) | 17.5 (13–20) |
| Major depression current, n (%) | 25 (15%) | 10 (9%) | 9 (25%) | 6 (33%) |
| HIV infection, n (%) | 50 (31%) | 37 (33%) | 11 (32%) | 2 (11%) |
| Estimated duration of infection, enrolment weeks, median (IQR) | 24 (16–37) | 25 (16–42) | 19 (11–28) | 26 (20–31) |
| Presentation of recent HCV, n (%) | ||||
| Symptomatic illness | 67 (41%) | 46 (41%) | 12 (35%) | 9 (50%) |
| Asymptomatic seroconversion | 64 (39%) | 41 (37%) | 16 (47%) | 7 (39%) |
| Acute clinical ALT ≥400 IU/ml | 32 (20%) | 24 (22%) | 6 (18%) | 2 (11%) |
| HCV RNA, enrolment, log10 IU/mL, median (IQR) | 4.5 (3.0–5.8) | 5.1 (3.9–5.9) | 3.3 (2.8–5.0) | negative |
| HCV genotype of primary infection, n (%) | ||||
| Genotype 1 | 75 (46%) | 62 (56%) | 13 (38%) | - |
| Genotype 2 | 6 (4%) | 4 (4%) | 2 (6%) | - |
| Genotype 3 | 56 (34%) | 40 (36%) | 16 (47%) | - |
| Genotype 4 | 1 (1%) | 0 | 1 (3%) | - |
| Missing/not possible | 25 (15%) | 5 (4%) | 2 (6%) | 18 (100%) |
| IFNL4 genotype, n (%) | ||||
| CC rs12979860 allele | 78 (48%) | 51 (46%) | 16 (47%) | 11 (61%) |
| Missing | 12 (7%) | 9 (8%) | 2 (6%) | 1 (6%) |
1Higher score indicates lower social functioning and higher social instability
sd, standard deviation; IQR, interquartile range; ALT, alanine transaminase