HCV Self-Testing to Expand Testing: A Pilot Among Men Who Have Sex With Men in China

Frontiers in Public Health

article

Wenqian Xu¹  Elena Ivanova Reipold⁵  Peizhen Zhao²  Weiming Tang²  Joseph D. Tucker⁷  Jason J. Ong⁷  Jinshen Wang¹  Philippa Easterbrook^1,10  Cheryl Case Johnson^1,10  Muhammad S. Jamil^1,10  Cheng Wang¹ 

[1] School of Public Health, Southern Medical University;Dermatology Hospital of Southern Medical University;Southern Medical University Institute for Global Health;Guangdong Provincial Center for Skin Diseases and STIs Control;The Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics;University of North Carolina Project-China;Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine;School of Medicine, Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill;Central Clinical School, Monash University;Department of Global HIV, Hepatitis, and STI Programmes, World Health Organization

关键词: hepatitis C virus;    self-testing;    men who have sex with men;    rapid diagnostic tests;    China;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpubh.2022.903747

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

Background Hepatitis C virus self-testing (HCVST) may increase test uptake especially among marginalized key populations such as men who have sex with men (MSM). We conducted an observational study to assess the usability, acceptability and feasibility of HCVST among MSM in China. Methods An observational study with convenience sampling was performed among MSM in Guangzhou, China in 2019. The OraQuick® HCV Rapid Antibody Test kits were used in this study. Participants performed all 12 HCVST steps and interpreted the results in the presence of a trained observer. Usability was defined as the number and percentage of participants who completed all testing steps correctly without assistance and interpreted the results correctly. Inter-reader concordance was calculated as the percentage agreement between the results interpreted by the participant and those interpreted by a trained staff member. The same process was used to estimate inter-operator agreement between the self-testing and professional use test results. Acceptability was assessed using an interviewer-administered semi-structured questionnaire. Results Among 100 participants with median age 27 (interquartile range 23–30) years, 4% reported prior history of HCV testing, 41% reported using blood-based HIV self-testing in the past, 54% (95%CI: 43.7–64.0%) completed all self-testing steps correctly without assistance and interpreted the results correctly. Both the inter-reader and inter-operator concordance were excellent at 97% (95%CI: 91.5–99.4%) and 98% (95%CI: 93.0–99.8%), respectively. The majority rated the HCVST process as very easy (52%, 95%CI: 41.8–62.1%) or easy (41%, 95%CI: 31.3–51.3%), 76% (95%CI: 66.4–84.0%) were willing to use HCVST again, and 75% (95%CI: 65.3–83.1%) would recommend it to their family and friends. Conclusions Our findings demonstrate that oral fluid HCVST has high usability and acceptability among Chinese MSM. More implementation research is needed to plan how best to position and scale-up HCVST alongside other facility-and community-based testing approaches and ensure data linkage into health systems.

【 授权许可】

CC BY