A crowdsourced intervention to promote hepatitis B and C testing among men who have sex with men in China: A nationwide online randomized controlled trial.

backgroundCrowdsourcing may be an effective strategy to develop test promotion materials. We conducted an online randomized controlled trial (RCT) to evaluate a crowdsourced intervention to promote hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) testing among men who have sex with men (MSM) in China.

methodsMSM never previously tested for hepatitis were recruited through social media. Eligible men were randomized to receive an online crowdsourced intervention or no testing promotion materials. Outcomes including self-reported and confirmed HBV and HCV test uptake were assessed after four weeks. Odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) of men achieving primary and secondary outcomes between the intervention and control arms were calculated.

findings556 eligible men were enrolled. Overall, 17•4% (97/556) of men self-reported HBV and HCV testing and 7•9% (44/556) confirmed HBV and HCV test uptake. The intervention was seen by 72•1% and 29•0% of men in the intervention and control arms, respectively. In intention-to-treat analysis, confirmed HBV and HCV test uptake was similar between the two arms, both when using a missing=failure approach (OR 0•98, 95% CI 0•53-1•82) or multiple imputation (OR 1•46, 95% CI 0•72-2•95).

interpretationThis RCT extends the literature by developing and evaluating an intervention to spur hepatitis testing in a middle-income country with a high burden of hepatitis. Overall test uptake among MSM in China was similar to previous interventions promoting hepatitis testing in high-income countries. We found frequent intervention sharing, complicating interpretation of the results, and the role of crowdsourcing to promote hepatitis testing remains unclear.