• Gabor Gazdag, Gergely Horvath, Olga Szabo, and Gabor S Ungvari.
• Consultation-Liaison Psychiatric Service, Szent István and Szent László Hospitals, Budapest, Hungary. gazdag@lamb.hu
• Neuropsychopharmacol Hung. 2010 Dec 1; 12 (4): 459-62.

BackgroundNowadays intravenous drug use is the main source of hepatitis C transmission, but only a small proportion of those who acquired infection via intravenous drug use receive antiviral treatment.Aimto assess the barriers of access to antiviral treatment of infected intravenous drug users.MethodsA retrospective chart review was carried out in a hepatology outpatient clinic including all hepatitis C infected intravenous drug users in a 3-year period.ResultsOnly one-third of the infected former intravenous drug users received antiviral treatment. The main barrier to antiviral treatment was the lack of abstinence. Former intravenous drug users in prison or in long-term drug rehabilitation institutes were more likely to enter antiviral treatment.ConclusionsThe low proportion of patients entering antiviral treatment calls the attention to further improving the pretreatment management of this patient population. Special attention should be paid to the maintenance of abstinence.

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