Table 2.
Demographic characteristics
| PWID group (N = 101) | Control group (N = 177) | p | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Male sex | 66 (65.3%) | 91 (51.4%) | 0.02 |
| Age (years, median, range) | 40 (22–68) | 59 (22–87) | < 0.001 |
| Foreigners | 12 (11.9%) | 37 (20.9%) | N. S. |
| Mode of transmission | |||
| Intravenous drug use | 101 (100%) | < 0.001 | |
| Blood transfusion | 49 (27.7%) | ||
| Tattoo | 11 (62%) | ||
| Sexual transmission | 2 (1.1%) | ||
| Nosocomial acquisition | 16 (9.0%) | ||
| Professional exposure | 13 (7.4%) | ||
| Men having sex with men | 4 (2.3%) | ||
| Unknown | 82 (46.3%) | ||
| Abstinence | |||
| Recent or ongoing drug use | 19 (18.8%) | N. A | |
| > 1 year | 24 (23.8%) | ||
| > 5 years | 58 (57.4%) | ||
| Opioid substitution therapy | |||
| Methadone | 2 (2%) | N. A | |
| Buprenorphine | 0 (0%) | ||
| HCV genotype | |||
| 1a | 34 (33.7%) | 13 (7.3%) | < 0.001 |
| 1b | 45 (44.5%) | 148 (83.7%) | |
| 3 | 19 (18.8%) | 13 (7.3%) | |
| Other | 3 (3%) | 3 (1.7%) | |
| Baseline HCV RNA (IU/mL, median, range) | 763,000 (35–13,500,000) | 1,340,000 (912–24,900,000) | 0.04 |
| Fibrosis stage (Metavir score) | |||
| F0–F1 | 41 (40.6%) | 72 (40.7%) | |
| F2 | 27 (26.7%) | 29 (16.4%) | 0.02 |
| F3 | 13 (12.9%) | 14 (7.9%) | |
| F4 | 20 (19.8%) | 62 (35.0%) | |
P value of < 0.05 was considered statistically significant and the results are displayed in bold
PWID people who inject drugs group