{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,23]],"date-time":"2026-10-23T23:36:40Z","timestamp":1792798600691,"version":"4.5.0"},"reference-count":36,"publisher":"BMJ","issue":"7","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,7,3]],"date-time":"2023-07-03T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1688342400000},"content-version":"unspecified","delay-in-days":2,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"National Health and Medical Research Council partnership grant","award":["1116161"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["1116161"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/011kf5r70","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"crossref"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["bmj.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["BMJ Open"],"accepted":{"date-parts":[[2023,6,15]]},"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2023,7]]},"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Objectives<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Direct-acting antivirals provide an opportunity to eliminate hepatitis C virus (HCV) as a public health threat in Australia, yet barriers to care remain. In this study, we use baseline data from a longitudinal cohort of people who inject drugs to understand differences in participant characteristics and explore experiences of stigma, health service utilisation and health literacy between three care cascade groups.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Design<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Cross-sectional.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Setting<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Community and private primary healthcare services in Melbourne, Australia.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Participants<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Participants completed baseline surveys between 19 September 2018 and 15 December 2020. We recruited 288 participants; the median age was 42 years (IQR: 37\u201349 years) and 198 (69%) were male. At baseline, 103 (36%) self-reported being \u2018not engaged in testing\u2019, 127 (44%) had HCV RNA positivity but were \u2018not engaged in treatment\u2019 and 58 (20%) were \u2018engaged in HCV treatment\u2019.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Outcome measures<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      Descriptive statistics were used to present the baseline demographics, health service utilisation and experiences of stigma data. We explored differences in these scales between participant demographics using \u03c7\n                      <jats:sup>2<\/jats:sup>\n                      test or fisher\u2019s exact tests, and differences between health literacy scores using one-way analysis of variance tests.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>A majority were in regular contact with multiple health services, and most had previously been identified as at-risk of HCV. In the 12 months preceding baseline, 70% reported any experiences of stigma related to injecting drug use. Assessment of health literacy data identified gaps for those \u2018not engaged in testing\u2019 and \u2018not engaged in treatment\u2019 across two relevant domains: \u2018ability to appraise health information\u2019 and \u2018ability to actively engage with healthcare providers\u2019.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>In eliminate hepatitis C experience, lower HCV testing and treatment may be explained by experiences of stigmatisation or gaps in health literacy. Enhanced interventions targeting people who inject drugs to promote HCV care are needed.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1136\/bmjopen-2023-071665","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,7,3]],"date-time":"2023-07-03T14:41:20Z","timestamp":1688395280000},"page":"e071665","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1136\/crossmarkpolicy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":3,"title":["The eliminate hepatitis C (EC) experience study: baseline characteristics of a cohort of people who inject drugs in Melbourne, Australia"],"prefix":"10.1136","volume":"13","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2867-6689","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jack","family":"Gunn","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Disease Elimination Program, Burnet Institute, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6799-2372","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Daniel","family":"O\u2019Keefe","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Disease Elimination Program, Burnet Institute, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia"},{"name":"School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2624-2510","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Bridget Louise","family":"Draper","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Disease Elimination Program, Burnet Institute, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia"},{"name":"School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Filip","family":"Djordjevic","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Disease Elimination Program, Burnet Institute, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Kathleen","family":"Ryan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Disease Elimination Program, Burnet Institute, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Phoebe","family":"Kerr","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Disease Elimination Program, Burnet Institute, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Imogen","family":"Elsum","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Disease Elimination Program, Burnet Institute, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3624-8900","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Judy","family":"Gold","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Disease Elimination Program, Burnet Institute, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia"},{"name":"School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Chloe","family":"Layton","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Disease Elimination Program, Burnet Institute, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Kico","family":"Chan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Disease Elimination Program, Burnet Institute, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Paul","family":"Dietze","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia"},{"name":"National Drug Research Institute, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia"},{"name":"Behaviours and Health Risks Program, Burnet Institute, Melbourne, Victoria, 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