Hepatitis C-related discrimination in New South Wales

Abstract

Carolyn Day is with the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, University of New South Wales. Rohan Jayasuriya is at the Graduate School of Public Health, University of Wollongong. Graham Stone is with HIV, Program AIDS, Northern Sydney Health, Manly Hospital.Acknowledgements: The HepCare trial was funded by the Commonwealth Department of Health and Family Welfare and the NSW Health Department.Hepatitis C-related discrimination was examined. Intake interviews with 606 HepCare trial participants from New South Wales were analysed to determine the prevalence and correlates of hepatitis C related discrimination. The sample was a mean age of 37 years, 54% were males, 79% reported a history of drug injecting and 35% were current injectors. Forty percent of the sample reported experiencing hepatitis C-related discrimination. Multivariate analysis revealed that current injectors, 35-44 year olds, females, those who had recently consulted a general practitioner and those who had been referred to a specialist for their hepatitis C were more likely to report discrimination than other groups. More research is required to attain a better understanding of hepatitis C-related discrimination.