Hepatitis C treatment uptake among people who inject drugs in Oslo, Norway: A registry-based study.

Background: Improving HCV treatment uptake among people who inject drugs (PWID) is crucial to achieving the WHO elimination targets. The aims were to evaluate HCV treatment uptake and HCV RNA prevalence in a large cohort of PWID in Norway.

Methods: Registry-based observational study where all users of the City of Oslo's low-threshold social and health services for PWID between 2010-2016 (n = 5330) were linked to HCV notifications (1990-2019) and dispensions of HCV treatment, opioid agonist treatment (OAT) and benzodiazepines (2004-2019).

Peer support in small towns: A decentralized mobile Hepatitis C virus clinic for people who inject drugs.

Background & Aims: New models of HCV care are needed to reach people who inject drugs (PWID). The primary aim was to evaluate HCV treatment uptake among HCV RNA positive individuals identified by point-of-care (POC) testing and liver disease assessment in a peer-driven decentralized mobile clinic.

Methods: This prospective study included consecutive patients assessed in a mobile clinic visiting 32 small towns in Southern Norway from November 2019 to November 2020.

HCV treatment uptake in people who have injected drugs - observations in a large cohort that received addiction treatment 1970-1984.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to document antiviral treatment uptake among former or current people who inject drugs (PWID) with chronic hepatitis C and to explore a possible association between treatment and mortality.

Material And Methods: This is a longitudinal cohort study of PWID admitted for drug abuse treatment 1970-1984. The 245 hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA-positive patients alive by the end of 1996 were followed 1997-2012 through linkage to several health registers.

Liver fibrosis progression at autopsy in injecting drug users infected by hepatitis C: a longitudinal long-term cohort study.

Background & Aims: There is a paucity of unbiased data on the natural history of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in injecting drug users (IDUs). The purpose of this study was to assess the risk of developing advanced fibrosis associated with chronic hepatitis C (CHC) infection among injecting drug users (IDUs) who underwent an autopsy.

Methods: A longitudinal cohort design was applied, in which the stage of liver fibrosis in anti-HCV positive IDUs with or without chronic HCV infection was assessed in liver tissue from autopsies performed up to 35 years after HCV exposure.

All-cause and liver-related mortality in hepatitis C infected drug users followed for 33 years: a controlled study.

Background & Aims: The course of chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) in injecting drug users (IDUs) has not been well described. The aim of this study was to compare long-term all-cause and liver-related mortality among anti-HCV positive IDUs with and without persisting HCV infection.

Methods: A retrospective-prospective controlled cohort design was applied.

Fatal overdoses and deaths by other causes in a cohort of Norwegian drug abusers--a competing risk approach.

Objective: To identify causes of death among Norwegian drug abusers and to investigate the risk factors for fatal overdose and other causes of death, with specific attention to ageing and duration of abuse.

Methods: In a cohort of 501 drug abusers admitted to treatment in the period 1981-1991, mortality has been calculated as incidence rates. The analyses of time to death were conducted as proportional hazard regression models using a competing risk approach.

[Shortage of supported housing for patients with mental disorder and substance abuse].

Background: Some patients with comorbidity of severe mental illness and substance abuse--often called patients with dual diagnosis--are in need of supported housing. The extent of this need was one of the aspects of a survey conducted by the Norwegian Board of Health in 1999. Findings concerning housing from one part of the survey, which included inpatients in psychiatric hospitals and clinics, are presented in this paper.