O23 Characterisation of populations with hepatitis C to improve access to antiviral therapy programs: a population based linkage study

Background: The aim of this study was to assess the characteristics of people who inject drugs (PWID), and evaluate common co-morbidities among current PWID and non-PWID with a hepatitis C virus (HCV) notification in NSW.Methods: HCV notifications 1993–2012 were linked to hospital admission data 2000–2014. Injecting drug use (IDU)-related admissions were defined by hospitalisation due to injectable drugs and/or injecting-related infectious disease.Results: Study population comprised 95,005 people with an HCV notification, 32%(n= 30,702) of whom had no episode of hospitalisation, and 68%(n= 64,303) were hospitalised at least once during the study period. Among those with a recorded hospital admission, 28,468 individuals never received opioid substitution therapy (OST), and had no IDU-related admission (group 1), 13,180 people had no history of OST, but at least one IDU-related admission …