Table 1.
Patient demographic and clinical characteristics at recruitment for First Nations Peoples and non-Indigenous Australians
| First Nations Peoples | Non-Indigenous Australians | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| N = 89 | N = 3206 | p value | |
| Data source: patient medical records | |||
| Age (mean, SD) | 48.1 (10.48) | 52.1 (10.43) | < 0.001* |
| Gender | |||
| Male | 62 (69.7%) | 2110 (65.8%) | 0.45‡ |
| Socioeconomic status | |||
| Q1 most affluent/Q2/Q3 | 29 (32.6%) | 1580 (49.3%) | 0.002‡ |
| Q4/Q5 most disadvantaged | 60 (67.4%) | 1623 (50.7%) | |
| Remoteness of residence | |||
| Major city | 50 (56.2%) | 2393 (74.7%) | < 0.001‡ |
| Regional/remote | 39 (43.8%) | 812 (25.3%) | |
| Diabetes | 21 (23.6%) | 808 (25.4%) | 0.70‡ |
| Hepatitis B surface antigen | 2 (2.5%) | 44 (1.7%) | 0.65¥ |
| Hepatitis B surface antibody | 33 (42.3%) | 1044 (44.2%) | 0.75‡ |
| Hepatitis B core antibody | 26 (36.6%) | 635 (31.5%) | 0.37‡ |
| HIV | 1 (1.6%) | 24 (1.3%) | 0.58¥ |
| Prescribed opioid substitute | 21 (24.1%) | 437 (14.4%) | 0.012‡ |
| Current alcohol consumption | |||
| Zero alcohol | 54 (75.0%) | 1411 (58.6%) | 0.018 ¥ |
| < 40 g/day | 14 (19.4%) | 688 (28.6%) | |
| ≥ 40 g/day | 4 (5.6%) | 307 (12.8%) | |
| Cirrhosis | 32 (36.0%) | 1023 (32.2%) | 0.45‡ |
| Liver fibrosis assessment | |||
| FIB-4 score (median, IQR)# | 1.36 (0.78–2.41) | 1.63 (1.03–2.97) | 0.03€ |
| FIB-4# | |||
| No liver fibrosis (FIB-4 ≤ 3.25) | 68 (80.0%) | 2173 (77.9%) | 0.79‡ |
| Liver fibrosis FIB-4 > 3.25 | 17 (20.0%) | 616 (22.1%) | |
| Liver stiffness (kPa) (median, IQR)† | 7.55 (5.30–13.70) | 7.50 (5.50–13.10) | 0.72 € |
| Liver stiffness groups† | |||
| < 8.0 kPa (minimal fibrosis) | 32 (53.3%) | 1317 (54.7%) | 0.78‡ |
| 8.0–12.5 kPa (moderate fibrosis) | 10 (16.7%) | 463 (19.2%) | |
| > 12.5 kPa (advanced fibrosis/cirrhosis) | 18 (30.0%) | 629 (26.1%) | |
| Hepatocellular carcinoma before DAA treatment | 4 (4.5%) | 62 (1.9%) | 0.10¥ |
| Data source: MBSβ | |||
| Mental health services | 25 (28.1%) | 771 (24.0%) | 0.38‡ |
| General Practitioner or Specialist (excluding psychiatrist) | 86 (96.6%) | 3012 (93.9%) | 0.37‡ |
| Number of visits (mean, SD) | 14.4 (11.7) | 11.8 (11.0) | 0.029* |
| After hours services | 18 (20.2%) | 806 (25.1%) | 0.29‡ |
| Multidisciplinary care plan or case conferences | 27 (30.3%) | 965 (30.1%) | 0.96‡ |
| Addiction services | 1 (1.1%) | 4 (0.1%) | 0.13¥ |
| Data source: PBSβ,¶ | |||
| Total number Rx-Risk-V comorbidities (median, IQR) | 2 (1–5) | 2 (1–4) | 0.052€ |
| 0 (no Rx-Risk comorbidity) | 12 (13.8%) | 599 (19.8%) | 0.058‡ |
| 1 | 17 (19.5%) | 640 (21.1%) | |
| 2 | 17 (19.5%) | 514 (17.0%) | |
| 3 | 6 (6.9%) | 424 (14.0%) | |
| 4 | 10 (11.5%) | 308 (10.2%) | |
| 5 or more Rx-Risk comorbidities | 25 (28.7%) | 542 (17.9%) | |
| RxRisk-V categories | |||
| Pain (opioids) | 37 (42.5%) | 1052 (34.8%) | 0.13‡ |
| Depression | 36 (41.4%) | 843 (27.8%) | 0.006‡ |
| Gastric acid disorders | 24 (27.6%) | 782 (25.8%) | 0.71‡ |
| Psychotic illness | 23 (26.4%) | 402 (13.3%) | < 0.001‡ |
| Anxiety and tension | 20 (23.0%) | 650 (21.5%) | 0.73‡ |
| Reactive airways disease | 23 (26.4%) | 587 (19.4%) | 0.10‡ |
| Smoking cessation medication | 17 (19.5%) | 268 (8.9%) | < 0.001‡ |
| Congestive heart failure—hypertension | 3 (3.4%) | 26 (0.9%) | 0.046¥ |
| Selected RxRisk-V categories grouped | |||
| Cardiovascular disease** | 18 (20.7%) | 554 (18.3%) | 0.57‡ |
| Mental health∞ | 48 (55.2%) | 1296 (42.8%) | 0.022‡ |
Data are presented as n (%) unless specified
#Missing data for 4 First Nations Peoples and 307 non-Indigenous Australians
†Missing data for 29 First Nations Peoples and 797 non-Indigenous Australians
βService use or medication dispensing at least once in the 12 months prior to DAA therapy unless specified otherwise
¶PBS data not available for 2 First Nations Peoples and 179 non-Indigenous Australians
*Student’s t test
‡Pearson's chi-squared
¥Fisher's exact test
€Wilcoxon rank-sum
**Included four RxRisk categories namely congestive heart failure—hypertension, hypertension, ischaemic heart disease—angina, and ischaemic heart disease—hypertension
∞Included four RxRisk categories namely bipolar, depression, psychotic illness, and anxiety