Dual strategy involving hospital-based study and community-based screening to eliminate hepatitis C in remote areas.
J Formos Med Assoc
; 123(5): 613-619, 2024 May.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38195318
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
/Purpose:
To achieve the World Health Organization goal of eliminating viral hepatitis by 2030, a key strategy in resource-limited areas is to identify the areas with high prevalence and to prioritize screening and treatment intervention. We hypothesized that a hospital-based laboratory database could be used to estimate the township- and village-specific anti-hepatitis C virus (HCV) prevalence.METHODS:
Yunlin County Public Health Bureau has been collecting anti-HCV test data from eight major hospitals. Township- and village-specific screening testing rates and anti-HCV prevalence were calculated for residents 40 years or older. A township with a wide range of anti-HCV prevalence rates was selected for outreach universal screening and for validating the village-specific prevalence of anti-HCV in the analysis of the data from the hospitals.RESULTS:
The overall anti-HCV screening testing rate in Yunlin County was 30.4 %, whereas the anti-HCV prevalence rate for persons 40 years or older was 15.4 %. The village-specific anti-HCV prevalence rates ranged from 3.8 % to 85.8 %. Community-based screening was conducted in Kouhu Township. The village-specific anti-HCV prevalence rates ranged from 0 % to 18.8 %. Three of the four villages had the highest village-specific anti-HCV prevalence in the community-based study and the hospital-based study. Additionally, 95.8 % of the new HCV cases detected by universal screening received anti-HCV therapy.CONCLUSION:
The hospital-based database provided a framework for identifying the villages with high anti-HCV prevalence. Additionally, community-based universal screening should be prioritized for villages with high prevalence in hospital-based databases.Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Mass Screening
/
Hepatitis C
Type of study:
Diagnostic_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
/
Screening_studies
Limits:
Adult
/
Aged
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
Language:
En
Journal:
J Formos Med Assoc
Journal subject:
MEDICINA
Year:
2024
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Taiwán
Country of publication:
Singapur