Open AccessMissed Opportunities for Hepatitis C Testing in Opioid Treatment Programs
Author(s) -
Jemima A. Frimpong
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
american journal of public health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.284
H-Index - 264
eISSN - 1541-0048
pISSN - 0090-0036
DOI - 10.2105/ajph.2012.301129
Subject(s) - medicine , hepatitis c , opioid epidemic , injection drug use , population , drug , opioid , human immunodeficiency virus (hiv) , hepatitis c virus , family medicine , drug injection , environmental health , virology , psychiatry , receptor , virus
HCV has surpassed HIV as a cause of death in the United States and is particularly prevalent among injection drug users. I examined the availability of on-site HCV testing in a nationally representative sample of opioid treatment programs. Nearly 68% of these programs had the staff required for HCV testing, but only 34% offered on-site testing. Availability of on-site testing increased only slightly with the proportion of injection drug users among clients. The limited HCV testing services in opioid treatment programs is a key challenge to reducing HCV in the US population.