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Table 1 Patient demographic and clinical characteristics at recruitment for First Nations Peoples and non-Indigenous Australians

From: Hepatitis C treatment outcomes for Australian First Nations Peoples: equivalent SVR rate but higher rates of loss to follow-up

 

First Nations Peoples

Non-Indigenous Australians

 

N = 89

N = 3206

p value

Data source: patient medical records

Age (mean, SD)

48.1 (10.48)

52.1 (10.43)

 < 0.001*

Gender

 Male

62 (69.7%)

2110 (65.8%)

0.45‡

Socioeconomic status

 Q1 most affluent/Q2/Q3

29 (32.6%)

1580 (49.3%)

0.002‡

 Q4/Q5 most disadvantaged

60 (67.4%)

1623 (50.7%)

 

Remoteness of residence

 Major city

50 (56.2%)

2393 (74.7%)

 < 0.001‡

 Regional/remote

39 (43.8%)

812 (25.3%)

 

Diabetes

21 (23.6%)

808 (25.4%)

0.70‡

Hepatitis B surface antigen

2 (2.5%)

44 (1.7%)

0.65Â¥

Hepatitis B surface antibody

33 (42.3%)

1044 (44.2%)

0.75‡

Hepatitis B core antibody

26 (36.6%)

635 (31.5%)

0.37‡

HIV

1 (1.6%)

24 (1.3%)

0.58Â¥

Prescribed opioid substitute

21 (24.1%)

437 (14.4%)

0.012‡

Current alcohol consumption

 Zero alcohol

54 (75.0%)

1411 (58.6%)

0.018 ¥

  < 40 g/day

14 (19.4%)

688 (28.6%)

 

  ≥ 40 g/day

4 (5.6%)

307 (12.8%)

 

Cirrhosis

32 (36.0%)

1023 (32.2%)

0.45‡

Liver fibrosis assessment

 FIB-4 score (median, IQR)#

1.36 (0.78–2.41)

1.63 (1.03–2.97)

0.03€

 FIB-4#

  No liver fibrosis (FIB-4 ≤  3.25)

68 (80.0%)

2173 (77.9%)

0.79‡

  Liver fibrosis FIB-4 > 3.25

17 (20.0%)

616 (22.1%)

 

 Liver stiffness (kPa) (median, IQR)†

7.55 (5.30–13.70)

7.50 (5.50–13.10)

0.72 €

 Liver stiffness groups†

   < 8.0 kPa (minimal fibrosis)

32 (53.3%)

1317 (54.7%)

0.78‡

  8.0–12.5 kPa (moderate fibrosis)

10 (16.7%)

463 (19.2%)

 

   > 12.5 kPa (advanced fibrosis/cirrhosis)

18 (30.0%)

629 (26.1%)

 

 Hepatocellular carcinoma before DAA treatment

4 (4.5%)

62 (1.9%)

0.10Â¥

Data source: MBSβ

Mental health services

25 (28.1%)

771 (24.0%)

0.38‡

General Practitioner or Specialist (excluding psychiatrist)

86 (96.6%)

3012 (93.9%)

0.37‡

 Number of visits (mean, SD)

14.4 (11.7)

11.8 (11.0)

0.029*

After hours services

18 (20.2%)

806 (25.1%)

0.29‡

Multidisciplinary care plan or case conferences

27 (30.3%)

965 (30.1%)

0.96‡

Addiction services

1 (1.1%)

4 (0.1%)

0.13Â¥

Data source: PBSβ,¶

 Total number Rx-Risk-V comorbidities (median, IQR)

2 (1–5)

2 (1–4)

0.052€

  0 (no Rx-Risk comorbidity)

12 (13.8%)

599 (19.8%)

0.058‡

  1

17 (19.5%)

640 (21.1%)

 

  2

17 (19.5%)

514 (17.0%)

 

  3

6 (6.9%)

424 (14.0%)

 

  4

10 (11.5%)

308 (10.2%)

 

  5 or more Rx-Risk comorbidities

25 (28.7%)

542 (17.9%)

 

 RxRisk-V categories

  Pain (opioids)

37 (42.5%)

1052 (34.8%)

0.13‡

  Depression

36 (41.4%)

843 (27.8%)

0.006‡

  Gastric acid disorders

24 (27.6%)

782 (25.8%)

0.71‡

  Psychotic illness

23 (26.4%)

402 (13.3%)

 < 0.001‡

  Anxiety and tension

20 (23.0%)

650 (21.5%)

0.73‡

  Reactive airways disease

23 (26.4%)

587 (19.4%)

0.10‡

  Smoking cessation medication

17 (19.5%)

268 (8.9%)

 < 0.001‡

  Congestive heart failure—hypertension

3 (3.4%)

26 (0.9%)

0.046Â¥

 Selected RxRisk-V categories grouped

  Cardiovascular disease**

18 (20.7%)

554 (18.3%)

0.57‡

  Mental health∞

48 (55.2%)

1296 (42.8%)

0.022‡

  1. Data are presented as n (%) unless specified
  2. #Missing data for 4 First Nations Peoples and 307 non-Indigenous Australians
  3. †Missing data for 29 First Nations Peoples and 797 non-Indigenous Australians
  4. βService use or medication dispensing at least once in the 12 months prior to DAA therapy unless specified otherwise
  5. ¶PBS data not available for 2 First Nations Peoples and 179 non-Indigenous Australians
  6. *Student’s t test
  7. ‡Pearson's chi-squared
  8. ¥Fisher's exact test
  9. €Wilcoxon rank-sum
  10. **Included four RxRisk categories namely congestive heart failure—hypertension, hypertension, ischaemic heart disease—angina, and ischaemic heart disease—hypertension
  11. ∞Included four RxRisk categories namely bipolar, depression, psychotic illness, and anxiety