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The Hepatitis C Continuum of Care Among HIV-Positive Persons with Heavy Alcohol Use in St. Petersburg, Russia

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Abstract

This study describes the self-reported prevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) coinfection and the HCV care continuum among persons enrolled in the St PETER HIV Study, a randomized controlled trial of medications for smoking and alcohol cessation in HIV-positive heavy drinkers and smokers in St. Petersburg, Russia. Baseline health questionnaire data were used to calculate proportions and 95% confidence intervals for self-reported steps along the HCV continuum of care. The cohort included 399 HIV-positive persons, of whom 387 [97.0% (95% CI 95.3–98.7%)] reported a prior HCV test and 315 [78.9% (95% CI 74.9–82.9%)] reported a prior diagnosis of HCV. Among those reporting a diagnosis of HCV, 43 [13.7% (95% CI 9.9–17.4%)] had received treatment for HCV, and 31 [9.8% (95% CI 6.6–13.1%)] had been cured. Despite frequent HCV testing in this HIV-positive Russian cohort, the proportion reporting prior effective HCV treatment was strikingly low. Increased efforts are needed to scale-up HCV treatment among HIV-positive Russians in St. Petersburg.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by grants from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) in support of URBAN ARCH: U01AA020780, U24AA020779, U24AA020778; and by the Providence/Boston Center for AIDS Research [P30AI042853]. M.C. was supported in this work by a training grant from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases [5T32DK007742-22]. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

Funding

This work was supported by grants from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) in support of URBAN ARCH: U01AA020780, U24AA020779, U24AA020778; and by the Providence/Boston Center for AIDS Research (P30AI042853). Maria A. Corcorran was supported in this work by a training grant from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (5T32DK007742-22). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

    Maria A. Corcorran

  2. Department of Epidemiology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

    Natasha Ludwig-Baron

  3. Department of Biostatistics, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA

    Debbie M. Cheng

  4. First Pavlov State Medical University of St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg, Russian Federation

    Dmitry Lioznov, Elena Blokhina & Evgeny Krupitsky

  5. Smorodintsev Research Institute of Influenza, St. Petersburg, Russian Federation

    Dmitry Lioznov

  6. Department of Medicine, Section of General Internal Medicine, Boston Medical Center, Clinical Addiction Research and Education (CARE) Unit, Boston, MA, USA

    Natalia Gnatienko & Sally Bendiks

  7. Biostatistics and Epidemiology Data Analytics Center (BEDAC), Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA

    Gregory Patts

  8. Department of Medicine, Section of General Internal Medicine, Boston University School of Medicine/Boston Medical Center, Clinical Addiction Research and Education (CARE) Unit, Boston, MA, USA

    Kaku So-Armah & Jeffrey H. Samet

  9. Department of Addictions, V.M. Bekhterev National Medical Research Center for Psychiatry and Neurology, St. Petersburg, Russian Federation

    Evgeny Krupitsky

  10. Department of Community Health Sciences, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA

    Jeffrey H. Samet

  11. Division of General Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

    Judith I. Tsui

  12. Division of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Harborview Medical Center, University of Washington School of Medicine, 325 9th Ave, Box 359782, Seattle, WA, 98104, USA

    Maria A. Corcorran

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  1. Maria A. Corcorran
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  2. Natasha Ludwig-Baron
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Contributions

All authors made substantial contributions to the conception or design of this study, the acquisition of data, data analysis, and/or data interpretation. GP performed the data analysis, assisted by DMC; MAC drafted the manuscript and all authors revised it critically. All authors approved the version to be published and agreed to be accountable for the accuracy and integrity of the work.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Maria A. Corcorran.

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Conflict of interest

Dr. Judith I. Tsui is the site PI for a Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) funded study, which received donated medications from Gilead. She is also the recipient of a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from NIH/NIDA (R44DA044053; PI: Seiguer/Tsui) in partnership with a health technology company, emocha Mobile Health Inc. Dr. Debbie M. Cheng serves on the Data Safety and Monitoring Board for Janssen Research & Development. All other authors, including first author Dr. Maria A. Corcorran, have no conflicts of interest to declare. No pharmaceutical grants were received in the development of this study.

Ethical Approval

This study was approved by the Institutional Review Boards of Boston University Medical Campus and First Pavlov State Medical University of St. Petersburg, Russia.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained for all participants prior to enrollment in the St PETER HIV Study. Participants who were unable to provide informed consent were excluded from the study.

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Corcorran, M.A., Ludwig-Baron, N., Cheng, D.M. et al. The Hepatitis C Continuum of Care Among HIV-Positive Persons with Heavy Alcohol Use in St. Petersburg, Russia. AIDS Behav 25, 2533–2541 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-021-03214-y

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