Physician awareness of hepatitis C virus among different departments

Abstract

Aim of the study:To determine the anti-hepatitis C virus (HCV) positivity in our region and to evaluate physician awareness of HCV among different inpatient and outpatient departments in a tertiary reference center in Turkey. Material and methods: This retrospective study was conducted between January 2017 and January 2020. The patients tested for anti-HCV for any reason were enrolled from the data of all patients admitted to our hospital, which is the reference center of the region. Results: A total of 121,492 anti-HCV assays were screened from the computerized database. Total number of patients with a positive anti-HCV result was 891 (0.81%). HCV RNA was positive in 147 (16.5%) of 891 patients and negative in 389 (43.7%) patients. Unfortunately HCV RNA was not tested in 355 (39.8%) patients. The percentages of the untested patients regarding the departments were 65.38% (n = 85/130) in medical inpatient clinics, 61.02% (n = 72/118) in surgical clinics, 16.67% (n = 88/528) medical outpatient departments, 96.8% (n = 91/94) in surgical outpatient departments, and 90.5% (n = 19/21) in the emergency department. Conclusions: The prevalence of anti-HCV positivity was found to be 0.81% and was stable in Turkey. However, the level of physician awareness for HCV was unsatisfactory, and differed between departments. Because HCV is commonly asymptomatic, positive patients should not be overlooked and adequate treatment should be administered. Awareness of physicians should be increased to prevent delays in the diagnosis of hepatitis C and to reduce the number of untreated patients.

Evaluation of patients whose HCV serology was investigated in our hospital between 2010-2018

“…The highest anti-HCV positivity rate was found in patients over 50 years of age [8,11]. Similarly, we found that the mean age of the patients was 63 years in our study.…”

What facilitates hepatitis B and hepatitis C testing and the role of stigma among primary care patients in China?

“…A general lack of HCV awareness, low sense of perceived risk and fear of stigma may have accounted for the low uptake 29,33,34 . Service provider barriers may have also contributed to these low rates as a lack of HCV awareness, and low self‐efficacy in HCV testing reportedly deter physicians from offering HCV‐testing and treatment services to their patients 12,35 . Therefore, routine physician training on HCV screening and testing with more targeted public HCV‐specific education is needed to improve HCV testing uptake and facilitate the integration of routine HCV screening into primary care consultation in China.…”

Treatment rates and factors associated with direct‐acting antiviral therapy for insured patients with hepatitis C‐related hepatocellular carcinoma – A real‐world nationwide study

“…Additionally, only 58.5% of patients with positive HCV RNA at HCC diagnosis received DAA treatment in this study, further highlighting the severely suboptimal treatment rate even among patients with confirmed viraemic HCV‐related HCC 18,19 . As such, the low treatment rate demonstrates the need for continual education among practitioners and the public about the need to screen for HCV as well as the availability of potentially curative treatment with relatively mild side effects 20–26 . In this light, according to the U.S. Preventive Task Force, all U.S. adults should be screened for HCV at least once in their lifetime 27 .…”

“…18,19 As such, the low treatment rate demonstrates the need for continual education among practitioners and the public about the need to screen for HCV as well as the availability of potentially curative treatment with relatively mild side effects. [20][21][22][23][24][25][26] In this light, according to the U.S. Preventive Task Force, all U.S. adults should be screened for HCV at least once in their lifetime. 27 Furthermore, surveillance for HCC needs to be encouraged among those with cirrhosis to preclude the diagnosis of advanced HCC.…”