HepCATT- Hepatitis C Assessment to Treatment Trial in Primary Care V1
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Evaluation of interventions designed to increase diagnosis and treatment of patients with Hepatitis C virus infection in primary care
IRAS ID
162309
Contact name
Matthew Hickman
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Bristol
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 6 months, 0 days
Research summary
Chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is an important contributor to the growing burden of liver disease in the UK. HCV results in cirrhosis and associated life-threatening complications in around 20% of infected individuals over an average period of 20-30 years. HCV infection is however potentially curable with the standard of care therapy in the UK being a combination therapy which results in an overall sustained virological response (SVR) in around 50% of patients. Mathematical modelling from the Health Protection Agency (HPA) predicts that there are upwards of 160,000 individuals in England and Wales with chronic HCV but only 100,000 laboratory diagnoses have been reported to the HPA and of these only a small proportion have been treated. Risk factors for HCV include past or current injecting drug use, and being born or having lived in countries with a high prevalence of infection. Approximately 90% of infections acquired in the UK are among people who inject drugs (PWID) or have injected in the past.
The overall aim of this project is to identify ways of increasing diagnosis and treatment of patients with HCV infection in the setting of primary care.
We will carry out a cluster randomised control trial to evaluate a complex intervention in primary care which will aim to i) identify people with an injecting history who are at higher risk of HCV and invite them for testing, and ii) identify people who have been diagnosed with chronic HCV but have not been treated and test whether testing, assessment and treatment rates in the intervention sites increase. We will also carry out a nested qualitative sub-study to explore the patients' and health care providers view as to whether the interventions encouraged uptake of testing and treatment and why.
REC name
South West - Frenchay Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
15/SW/0094
Date of REC Opinion
17 Apr 2015
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion