Doherty Institute - Theses
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ItemFalling down the cascade: the gaps in care delivery for people living with chronic hepatitis B in Australia( 2017)In Australia, an estimated 239,000 people were living with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) in 2016. Most of the affected community were born overseas and acquired their infection early in life, in countries with high and intermediate prevalence of hepatitis B. The mortality attributable to CHB is from both liver cancer (hepatocellular carcinoma) and cirrhosis. Hepatocellular carcinoma has poor five-year survival, increasing incidence globally, and was projected to become the sixth most common cause of cancer death in Australia in 2016. The first “Global Hepatitis Health Sector Strategy” was signed in 2016 by all the member states of the World Health Assembly including Australia, with the aim of eliminating viral hepatitis, including hepatitis B, as a public health concern by 2030. The five studies presented in this thesis use the cascade of care framework to approach different aspects of the health system response to chronic hepatitis B in Australia. The studies have used different data sources and methodologies to measure the cascade and explore factors associated with the delivery of care. The first study presents an analysis of national data from 2012. It proposed, for the first time, a cascade of care for chronic hepatitis B in Australia that included a novel “enrolled in care” indicator. The second study presents findings from a multicentre retrospective study of adherence to antiviral therapy for chronic hepatitis B from 2010-2013. The study measured the proportion of people adherent to treatment in tertiary settings and analysed the demographic and health system factors associated with poor adherence. The third study analysed the association of a pharmacy-based adherence measure (the medication possession ratio) with viral outcomes using a time-to-event analysis for favourable and unfavourable viral outcomes. The fourth study presents findings from a retrospective analysis of primary care data in a community health centre that received external support from a tertiary service to improve the delivery of guideline-based care for chronic hepatitis B, including surveillance for hepatocellular carcinoma. This study evaluated four and a half years of data focusing on hepatocellular carcinoma surveillance participation and adherence. The fifth study presents findings from a qualitative study: semi-structured interviews of African-Australians living with chronic hepatitis B. This study explored participants’ understanding of health risks associated with hepatitis B, including their perceptions of their risk of developing hepatocellular carcinoma. Findings from this thesis have shown that few people living with chronic hepatitis B in Australia were enrolled in care. It provided the first multicentre estimates of the adherence of people on antiviral therapy for chronic hepatitis B in our health system (using medication possession ratio as the measure of adherence) and that factors associated with poor adherence were younger age and poor continuity of clinician. In a further study, the association between medication possession ratio and unfavourable viral outcomes was demonstrated for the first time. This analysis found that there was no true cut-off point or threshold to define adherence and the risk of poor outcomes. Rather, there was an increasing hazard ratio for unfavourable events with decreasing medication possession ratio. The findings also include results from a study that demonstrated hepatocellular carcinoma surveillance in a tertiary-supported general practice – with both participation and adherence to six-monthly scans with supported recall and reminder systems – is hard to achieve. Finally, the fifth study presented as part of this thesis found that African-Australians living with chronic hepatitis B perceived and experienced significant risks to social and emotional wellbeing from the shock of diagnosis, fear of infectiousness, and discrimination from telling others about their illness, as well as physical or liver-related problems. The results from this thesis have informed the development of the current Australian cascade of care for chronic hepatitis B and provided insights into the challenges of delivering health services to people living with chronic hepatitis B. These findings have led to recommendations for further development of the cascade at a national and regional level, and the need for further research and evaluation of the health system response to chronic hepatitis B. The work presented demonstrates that Australia has failed to meet the targets of the 2014-2017 National Strategy and needs to rapidly improve essential elements of the cascade, including increasing the proportion diagnosed and enrolled in care, to reach the targets of elimination of chronic hepatitis B as a public health concern by 2030.