Publication
Title
Estimating the force of infection for HCV in injecting drug users using interval-censored data
Author
Abstract
Injecting drug users (IDUs) account for most new HCV infections. The objectives of this study were: to estimate the force of infection for hepatitis C virus in IDUs within the interval-censoring framework and to determine the impact of risk factors such as frequency of injection, drug injected, sharing of syringes and time of first injection on the time to HCV infection. We used data from the Amsterdam Cohort Study collected in The Netherlands and focused on those individuals who were HCV negative upon entry into the study. Based on the results, the force of infection was found to vary with time of first injection. The risk of infection was higher in the first 3 years of an IDU's career, implying estimates based on single cross-sectional studies could be biased. Frequency of injection and type of drug injected were found to be highly significant predictors, whereas sharing syringes was not.
Language
English
Source (journal)
Epidemiology and infection. - London, 1987, currens
Publication
London : 2012
ISSN
0950-2688 [print]
1469-4409 [online]
DOI
10.1017/S0950268811001750
Volume/pages
140 :6 (2012) , p. 1064-1074
ISI
000304007700013
Full text (Publisher's DOI)
Full text (open access)
UAntwerpen
Faculty/Department
Research group
Publication type
Subject
Affiliation
Publications with a UAntwerp address
External links
Web of Science
Record
Identifier
Creation 03.07.2012
Last edited 09.10.2023
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