Hepatitis C virus (HCV) and B virus (HBV) infections are highly prevalent, with a high percentage of undiagnosed cases. Knowledge of HCV and its modes of transmission are essential for disease prevention and management. We studied a high-risk New Zealand gang population on viral hepatitis prevalence, their level of knowledge and the liver health risk factors in a community setting. Participants completed demographic, risk factor and knowledge questionnaires in three health meetings in New Zealand. Participants' blood samples were tested for HBV, HCV, biochemical indicators of liver disease. Liver fibrosis levels were assessed using a Fibroscan® device. We studied 52 adult Mongrel Mob members, affiliates and whānau (extended family) throughout New Zealand. We identified no HCV and two HBV cases, confirmed high-risk factor levels and poor associated knowledge, with a significant association between lack of knowledge and presence of specific risk factors. We successfully conducted a community-focused, high-risk, hard-to-reach gang population study, and found a link between lack of knowledge and risk factors for HCV infection. This study provided first-of-its-kind data on viral hepatitis in a gang population and demonstrated the need for educational screening programmes to aid early HCV detection, prevention and treatment.
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 92. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 10 September 2018.
All research outputs
#559,287
of 32,030,936 outputs
Outputs from Royal Society Open Science
#626
of 6,119 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#9,488
of 362,099 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Royal Society Open Science
#10
of 145 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 32,030,936 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 98th percentile: it's in the top 5% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 6,119 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 47.6. This one has done well, scoring higher than 89% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 362,099 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 97% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 145 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 93% of its contemporaries.
