Evidence map›Paper›PMID 37280588›Full record

ArticleInternational journal for equity in health2023

Accessing hepatitis C direct acting antivirals among people living with hepatitis C: a qualitative study.

Tony Antoniou, Cheryl Pritlove, Dana Shearer, Mina Tadrous, Hemant Shah, Tara Gomes

Erratum issuedOpen access · goldAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in International journal for equity in health, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 6 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
6citing papers in PubMed
0.8field-weighted citation impact, top 27% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

6 citing papers in PubMed, 4 citations in OpenAlex.

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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.

Tony AntoniouLi Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, Unity Health, Toronto, ON, Canada. Tony.antoniou@unityhealth.to.
Cheryl PritloveLi Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, Unity Health, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Dana ShearerLi Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, Unity Health, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Mina TadrousLeslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Hemant ShahToronto Centre for Liver Disease, University Health Network, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Tara GomesLi Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, Unity Health, Toronto, ON, Canada.
University of Toronto · CAHealth Solutions (Sweden) · SEPublic Health Ontario · CAUniversity Health Network · CA

Funding

CIHR
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundHepatitis C is curable with direct-acting antivirals (DAAs). However, treatment uptake remains low among marginalized populations such as people who inject drugs. We sought to understand challenges to treatment uptake with DAAs among people living with hepatitis C and compare treatment experiences between people who do and do not inject prescription and/or unregulated drugs.

methodsWe conducted a qualitative study using focus groups with 23 adults aged 18 years and over who completed DAA treatment or were about to begin such treatment at the time of the study. Participants were recruited from hepatitis C treatment clinics across Toronto, Ontario. We drew upon stigma theory to interpret participants' accounts.

resultsFollowing analysis and interpretation, we generated five theoretically-informed themes characterizing the experiences of individuals accessing DAAs: "being 'worthy' of the cure", "spatially enacted stigma", "countering social and structural vulnerability: the importance of peers", "identity disruption and contagion: attaining a 'social cure'" and "challenging stigma with population-based screening". Overall, our findings suggest that structural stigma generated and reproduced through healthcare encounters limits access to DAAs among people who inject drugs. Peer-based programs and population-based screening were proposed by participants as mechanisms for countering stigma within health care settings and 'normalizing' hepatitis C among the general population.

conclusionsDespite the availability of curative therapies, access to such treatment for people who inject drugs is limited by stigma enacted in and structured within healthcare encounters. Developing novel, low-threshold delivery programs that remove power differentials and attend to the social and structural determinants of health and reinfection are needed to facilitate further scale up of DAAs and support the goal of eradicating hepatitis C as a public health threat.

Indexed as

Hepatitis CHepatitis C, ChronicAdolescentAdultAntiviral AgentsHepacivirusHumansSocial StigmaAntiviral AgentsDirect acting antiviralsHepatitis CPeople who inject drugsQualitative research

Identifiers

PMID37280588
PMCPMC10243011
OpenAlexW4379535220

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.