Current management practices for HBs antigen or anti-HCV antibody positive individuals in non-hepatology departments at a university hospital

<p>Management of Hepatitis B Surface Antigen and Hepatitis C Antibody-Positive Patients by Departments Not Specializing in Hepatology at a Suburban University Hospital in Japan: A Single-Center Observational Study</p>

“…HCV-Ab positivity was defined as ≥1.0 S/CO, but titers were further divided into three categories-low (≥1.0, <4.0 S/ CO), medium (≥4.0, <12.0 S/CO), and high (≥12.0 S/ CO) 19 -and only patients in the medium and high groups were considered positive for the purposes of subsequent analyses. This was in accordance with our aforementioned previous study conducted at the same hospital, 9 and the rationale is that HCV-Ab titers <4.0 are reportedly associated with an HCV-RNA positivity rate of almost 0%. 19 In patients in whom multiple HBs-Ag and/or HCV-Ab tests had been performed during the study period, only the first test of each type was included.…”

“…The rate of referral to the Hepatology Department was 35.4%, which was significantly higher than the 2010 rate of 20.6% (chi-square test, OR 2.1, 95% CI 1.1-3.9, p = 0.024). 9 The distribution of patients in the non-RF subgroups was group 1 in non-RF 8 patients (15%), group 2 in non-RF 12 patients (23%), group 3 in non-RF 9 patients (17%), and group 4 in non-RF 24 patients (45%) ( Table 3).…”

“…The rate of referral to the Hepatology Department was 11.8%, which was significantly lower than the 2010 rate of 18.7% (chi-square test, OR 0.6, 95% CI 0.39-0.95, p = 0.028). 9 The distribution of patients in the non-RF subgroups was group 1 in non-RF 48 patients (20%), group 2 in non-RF 33 patients (13%), group 3 in non-RF 85 patients (35%), and group 4 in non-RF 80 patients (33%) ( Table 3). The results of the analyses using the same method as our previous study, in which the continuous variables were classified into binomial variables, are shown in S3 and S4 Tables with a description of the statistical method.…”

“…8 Regrettably, in a previous study, we in 2010 at a university hospital 79% of patients diagnosed with hepatitis B surface antigen (HBs-Ag) and 82% diagnosed with HCV anti-body (HCV-Ab) ≥ 4.0 S/CO were not referred to hepatologists. 9 By 2015 the treatment of viral hepatitis had changed significantly from that in 2010, with the advent of new anti-HBV and HCV drugs that evidently markedly improve prognoses. 10,11 Highly efficacious anti-HCV medications that were suitable for use in patients with chronic HCV hepatitis had become available, including patients who had previously been considered inappropriate candidates because they were refractory to treatment with interferon, had liver cirrhosis or another preclusive complication, or were of advanced age.…”

Promoting notification and linkage of HBs antigen and anti-HCV antibody-positive patients through hospital alert system

“…However, the notification of positive results to the patients and linkage to care is not appropriately performed [8–10]. In this study, the rate of patient notification and gastroenterologist referral was assessed.…”