Injecting risk behaviour and year of first injection as predictors of hepatitis B and C status among methadone maintenance patients in south London

Data and blood samples were obtained from 112 injecting opiate patients attending a methadone clinic in south London. Prevalence rates for markers of prior HBV and HCV infection were assessed, and risk factors for each blood-borne infection examined. Eighty per cent (90/112) were HCV and 50% (52/104) HBV positive. A greater proportion of those who had first injected pre-1985, the first year of widespread public awareness of drug-related blood-borne infection, were HBV and HCV positive (77% vs 27% for HBV; 94% vs 68% for HCV), although the pattern of onset differs between the two infections. Implications for public health and interventions are considered.