Comparative study on anti-HCV testing using plasma, dried plasma spots (DPS), and dried blood spots (DBS)

Laboratory‐based testing for hepatitis C infection using dried blood spot samples: A systematic review and meta‐analysis of diagnostic accuracy

“…Across the seven studies that reported the results of genotyping ( n = 661 samples), 69,72,76,83–85,87 75%, 3%, 17% and 5% were genotypes 1, 2, 3 and 4, respectively. Risk factors for HCV acquisition were reported in only 10 studies 65,67–70,72,73,78,85,87 . A history of injection drug use (IDU) or co‐infection with HBV or HIV were most commonly identified, but often without a detailed breakdown.…”

“…The 25 studies investigating the diagnostic accuracy of anti-HCV tests in DBS were published between 1999 and 2020. Of these, 8 were cross-sectional, 69,70,73,74,79,81,86,87 and 17 were casecontrol. [63][64][65][66][67][68]71,72,[75][76][77][78]80,[82][83][84][85] Twelve studies were from highincome countries, 65,67,72,[77][78][79][80][81][82][83][84][85] 10 were from upper-middle-income countries, 64,66,68,69,[73][74][75][76]86,87 2 were from lower-middle incomecountries, 63,71 and 1 was from a low-income country.…”

“…Risk factors for HCV acquisition were reported in only 10 studies. 65,[67][68][69][70]72,73,78,85,87 CARTY ET AL.…”

“…Overall, 3 of the studies were rated as at low risk of bias, 69,70,86 16 were at moderate risk of bias [63][64][65][66][67][68][75][76][77][79][80][81][82]84,87 and 6 were at high risk of bias. 71,75,76,78,83,85 Common issues were identified in relation to patient selection (such as non-consecutive enrolment or inappropriate participant exclusion), [63][64][65][66][67][68]71,[75][76][77][78][82][83][84][85] interpretation of index test results (such as not reporting or not pre-specifying the threshold used), 63,64,67,68,70,[72][73][74]76,[78][79][80]…”

“…Of these, 8 were cross-sectional, 69,70,73,74,79,81,86,87 and 17 were casecontrol. [63][64][65][66][67][68]71,72,[75][76][77][78]80,[82][83][84][85] Twelve studies were from highincome countries, 65,67,72,[77][78][79][80][81][82][83][84][85] 10 were from upper-middle-income countries, 64,66,68,69,[73][74][75][76]86,87 2 were from lower-middle incomecountries, 63,71 and 1 was from a low-income country. 70 Overall, samples from 7894 participants (study sample size range: 40-1090) were comp...…”