Risk behaviours associated with hepatitis C infection among persons who inject drugs in Prince George, British Columbia

Abstract

Persons who inject drugs (PWIDs) are at high-risk of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection due to blood-to-blood contact when sharing injection equipment (World Health Organization, 2014). To investigate this health concern, the current thesis research obtained the 2008 and 2012 Prince George I-Track survey datasets from the Public Health Agency of Canada (2012). Multivariate logistic regression analyses were conducted to determine risk behaviours and characteristics associated with HCV infection among PWIDs living in Prince George, British Columbia (BC). Two independent variables were significantly associated with HCV infection among Prince George PWIDs: injecting for more than two years, Adjusted Odds Ratio (AOR) 7.87, p < .001, 95% CI [3.60, 17.18], and injecting alone (versus with others), AOR 2.49, p = .004, 95% CI [1.35, 4.59]. The study results provide health practitioners with a highly sensitive (94.1%) predictive tool to identify PWIDs in Prince George, BC who are most likely to be infected with HCV.