{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,17]],"date-time":"2026-03-17T00:57:57Z","timestamp":1773709077344,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":23,"publisher":"Oxford University Press (OUP)","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,9]],"date-time":"2025-07-09T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1752019200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Blood Borne Virus & STI Research, Intervention and Strategic Evaluation Program","award":["APP1082336"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["APP1082336"]}]},{"name":"Blood Borne Virus & STI Research, Intervention and Strategic Evaluation Program","award":["GNT1092852"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["GNT1092852"]}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100009287","name":"New South Wales Ministry of Health","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100009287","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,17]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>People prescribed opioid agonist therapy (OAT) are a key population for hepatitis C virus (HCV) elimination. Health service engagement associated with OAT provision may facilitate hepatitis C testing and treatment. We aimed to quantify the HCV care cascade among people receiving OAT in Australia.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>We extracted linked data from individuals attending any of 58 clinics participating in the ACCESS national sentinel surveillance network of primary care and sexual health clinics from 1 January 2016 to 31 December 2023. Outcomes included evidence of any HCV test (antibody or RNA) or direct-acting antiviral (DAA) prescription at an ACCESS clinic after their first OAT prescription. RNA positive individuals were inferred antibody positive; individuals with a DAA prescription were inferred RNA and antibody positive. We determined the number of individuals at each stage of the following cascade by the end of the study period: (1) positive antibody, (2) positive RNA, and (3) DAA prescription.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Among 15 382 individuals prescribed OAT, 44% (6817) had an HCV antibody or RNA test after their first OAT prescription. Of these, 64% (4368\/6817) were antibody positive by the end of the study period. Of these, 67% (2911\/4368) were RNA positive, and of those, 69% (2007\/2911) were prescribed DAAs.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>A high proportion of people prescribed OAT were not engaged in care by their OAT provider or across ACCESS network clinics, but when diagnosed, rates of treatment were high. Given high HCV antibody and RNA prevalence, integrating HCV care into regular OAT care should be a priority for HCV elimination in Australia.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1093\/cid\/ciaf352","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,9]],"date-time":"2025-07-09T17:46:19Z","timestamp":1752083179000},"page":"e503-e510","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["The Hepatitis C Cascade of Care for Opioid Agonist Therapy Recipients in Australia"],"prefix":"10.1093","volume":"82","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2108-3541","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Samara","family":"Griffin","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Disease Elimination, Burnet Institute , Melbourne, Victoria ,","place":["Australia"]},{"name":"School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University , Melbourne, Victoria ,","place":["Australia"]},{"name":"Department of Gastroenterology, St Vincent's Hospital , Melbourne, Victoria ,","place":["Australia"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0823-4816","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jason","family":"Asselin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Disease Elimination, Burnet Institute , Melbourne, Victoria ,","place":["Australia"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Anna Lee","family":"Wilkinson","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Disease Elimination, Burnet Institute , Melbourne, Victoria ,","place":["Australia"]},{"name":"School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University , Melbourne, Victoria ,","place":["Australia"]},{"name":"School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne , Melbourne, Victoria ,","place":["Australia"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Michael W","family":"Traeger","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Disease Elimination, Burnet Institute , Melbourne, Victoria ,","place":["Australia"]},{"name":"School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University , Melbourne, Victoria ,","place":["Australia"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1998-5722","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Alisa","family":"Pedrana","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Disease Elimination, Burnet Institute , Melbourne, Victoria ,","place":["Australia"]},{"name":"School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University , Melbourne, Victoria ,","place":["Australia"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Rebecca J","family":"Winter","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Disease Elimination, Burnet Institute , Melbourne, Victoria ,","place":["Australia"]},{"name":"School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University , Melbourne, Victoria ,","place":["Australia"]},{"name":"Department of Gastroenterology, St Vincent's Hospital , Melbourne, Victoria ,","place":["Australia"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Alexander J","family":"Thompson","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Gastroenterology, St Vincent's Hospital , Melbourne, Victoria ,","place":["Australia"]},{"name":"Department of Medicine, University of Melbourne , Melbourne, Victoria ,","place":["Australia"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Matthew","family":"Penn","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"North Richmond Community Health , Melbourne, Victoria ,","place":["Australia"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Wayne","family":"Dimech","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"National Serology Reference Laboratory , Melbourne, Victoria ,","place":["Australia"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8851-4126","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Basil","family":"Donovan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Kirby Institute, University of New South Wales , Sydney, New South Wales ,","place":["Australia"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Margaret","family":"Hellard","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Disease Elimination, Burnet Institute , Melbourne, Victoria ,","place":["Australia"]},{"name":"School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University , Melbourne, Victoria ,","place":["Australia"]},{"name":"Department of Medicine, University of Melbourne , Melbourne, Victoria ,","place":["Australia"]},{"name":"Department of Infectious Diseases, The Alfred and Monash University , Melbourne, Victoria ,","place":["Australia"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Mark","family":"Stoov\u00e9","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Disease Elimination, Burnet Institute , Melbourne, Victoria ,","place":["Australia"]},{"name":"School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University , Melbourne, Victoria ,","place":["Australia"]},{"name":"Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society, La Trobe University , Melbourne, Victoria ,","place":["Australia"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"286","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,9]]},"reference":[{"key":"2026031619513465700_ciaf352-B1","volume-title":"Global health sector strategies on, respectively, HIV, viral hepatitis and sexually transmitted infections for the period 2022\u20132030","author":"World Health Organization","year":"2022"},{"key":"2026031619513465700_ciaf352-B2","volume-title":"HIV, viral hepatitis and sexually transmissible infections in Australia: annual surveillance report 2024","author":"King","year":"2024"},{"key":"2026031619513465700_ciaf352-B3","first-page":"100316","article-title":"Assessment of the cost-effectiveness of Australia\u2019s risk-sharing agreement for direct-acting antiviral treatments for hepatitis C: a modelling study","volume":"18","author":"Scott","year":"2022","journal-title":"Lancet Reg Health West Pac"},{"key":"2026031619513465700_ciaf352-B4","author":"Burnet Institute and Kirby Institute"},{"key":"2026031619513465700_ciaf352-B5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"365","DOI":"10.5694\/mja2.50544","article-title":"Australia needs to increase testing to achieve hepatitis C elimination","volume":"212","author":"Scott","year":"2020","journal-title":"Med J Aust"},{"key":"2026031619513465700_ciaf352-B6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e659","DOI":"10.1016\/S2214-109X(23)00057-8","article-title":"Epidemiology of injecting drug use, prevalence of injecting-related harm, and exposure to behavioural and environmental risks among people who inject drugs: a systematic review","volume":"11","author":"Degenhardt","year":"2023","journal-title":"Lancet Global Health"},{"key":"2026031619513465700_ciaf352-B7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"494","DOI":"10.1001\/jamainternmed.2022.0170","article-title":"Accessible hepatitis C care for people who inject drugs: a randomized clinical trial","volume":"182","author":"Eckhardt","year":"2022","journal-title":"JAMA Intern Med"},{"key":"2026031619513465700_ciaf352-B8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e0207226","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0207226","article-title":"Beyond interferon side effects: what residual barriers exist to DAA hepatitis C treatment for people who inject drugs?","volume":"13","author":"Madden","year":"2018","journal-title":"PLoS 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