Time to Broaden HCV Testing?

Improvements in treatment are changing the calculus of screening the general population for hepatitis C virus infection.

Researchers estimate that at least half the patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections in the U.S. are unaware of their infections, which might remain undiagnosed until cirrhosis or hepatocellular carcinoma develops. Now that treatments for HCV infections are somewhat more effective than in the past, should screening policy be changed?

In a cost-effectiveness analysis that incorporated the newest protease inhibitor drugs, researchers evaluated the benefits of broadening current CDC screening guidelines, which call for testing adults with identified risks only (e.g., drug use, transfusion before 1992, unexplained liver enzyme abnormalities).

Addition of a one-time screening of the general adult U.S. population (age range, 20–69) proved t…

Reviewing Author

Abigail Zuger, MD

Disclosures

Nothing to disclose

Abigail Zuger, MD

Disclosures

Nothing to disclose

Time to Broaden HCV Testing?

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Reviewing Author