TY - JOUR
T1 - Knowledge about hepatitis-C among methadone maintenance treatment patients in Israel
AU - Cohen-Moreno, Rinat
AU - Schiff, Miriam
AU - Levitt, Shabtay
AU - Bar-Hamburger, Rachel
AU - Strauss, Shiela
AU - Neumark, Yehuda
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors wish to thank Drs. S. Melnick and A. Basevitch of the Kaplan Medical Center, Rehovot, Dr. G. Morali of the Shaare Zedek Medical Center, Jerusalem, and Dr. Y. Herman of the Yaffo-Yassur Methadone Center, Tel Aviv, for reviewing drafts of the questionnaire. Address correspondence to Yehuda Neumark, Ph.D., Braun School of Public Health and Community Medicine, Hebrew University-Hadassah, P.O. Box 12272, Jerusalem 91120 Israel. E-mail: yehudan@ekmd.huji.ac.il. This study was conducted as the M.P.H. thesis project of RC-M who received a scholarship from the Anti-Drug Authority of Israel for this purpose. Dr. Strauss’ contribution was supported by a grant from the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse, R01DA013409. Conflict of Interest: All other authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.
PY - 2010
Y1 - 2010
N2 - Ignorance about Hepatitis-C (HCV) among drug users, treatment staff, and policy makers thwarts treatment uptake and facilitates virus transmission. We assessed knowledge about HCV among methadone patients in Israel, where effective HCV-treatment is provided at low-cost within the national health insurance framework, yet few infected methadone patients are treated. In 2006, 512 patients in two methadone clinics in Israel were interviewed, of whom 53% were HCV-positive. The clinics were purposively selected from the 11 methadone clinics in the country. Respondents exhibited poor knowledge about HCV, particularly about diagnosis and treatment. Lesser-educated respondents were three times more likely to score low on HCV-knowledge compared to those with 12+ years of schooling (AOR = 2.97, 95 CI = 1.55.7. HCV-negative patients were also three-times more likely than HCV-positive patients to score low on the HCV-knowledge scale (Adjusted Odds Ratio = 3.0, 95% Confidence Interval = 1.94.7). Enhancing HCV-knowledge may help patients avoid becoming infected and infecting others, allay exaggerated fears about hepatitis, and facilitate HCV-treatment initiation among those infected.
AB - Ignorance about Hepatitis-C (HCV) among drug users, treatment staff, and policy makers thwarts treatment uptake and facilitates virus transmission. We assessed knowledge about HCV among methadone patients in Israel, where effective HCV-treatment is provided at low-cost within the national health insurance framework, yet few infected methadone patients are treated. In 2006, 512 patients in two methadone clinics in Israel were interviewed, of whom 53% were HCV-positive. The clinics were purposively selected from the 11 methadone clinics in the country. Respondents exhibited poor knowledge about HCV, particularly about diagnosis and treatment. Lesser-educated respondents were three times more likely to score low on HCV-knowledge compared to those with 12+ years of schooling (AOR = 2.97, 95 CI = 1.55.7. HCV-negative patients were also three-times more likely than HCV-positive patients to score low on the HCV-knowledge scale (Adjusted Odds Ratio = 3.0, 95% Confidence Interval = 1.94.7). Enhancing HCV-knowledge may help patients avoid becoming infected and infecting others, allay exaggerated fears about hepatitis, and facilitate HCV-treatment initiation among those infected.
KW - Drug dependence
KW - HCV
KW - Hepatitis C
KW - Knowledge
KW - Methadone
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U2 - 10.3109/10826080902864894
DO - 10.3109/10826080902864894
M3 - Article
C2 - 20025439
AN - SCOPUS:73649131591
VL - 45
SP - 58
EP - 76
JO - Substance Use and Misuse
JF - Substance Use and Misuse
SN - 1082-6084
IS - 1-2
ER -