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Analysis of a hepatitis C screening programme for US veterans

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 August 2005

I. A. ZUNIGA ,
J. J. CHEN ,
D. S. LANE ,
J. ALLMER  and
V. E. JIMENEZ-LUCHO
I. A. ZUNIGA
Affiliation:
Department of Preventive Medicine, State University of New York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, NY, USA
J. J. CHEN
Affiliation:
Department of Preventive Medicine, State University of New York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, NY, USA
D. S. LANE
Affiliation:
Department of Preventive Medicine, State University of New York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, NY, USA
J. ALLMER
Affiliation:
Northport VA Medical Center, East Northport, NY, USA
V. E. JIMENEZ-LUCHO
Affiliation:
Northport VA Medical Center, East Northport, NY, USA Division of Infectious Diseases, State University of New York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, NY, USA
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Abstract

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This study analyses a screening programme for hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection among US veterans in a suburban Veterans Affairs Medical Center, in New York. This is the first study examining all 11 potential risk factors listed in the 2001 National U.S. Veterans Health Administration Screening Guidelines. A retrospective study was conducted of 5400 veterans ‘at risk’ of HCV, identified through a questionnaire in this institution's primary-care outpatient departments between 1 October 2001 and 31 December 2003. Multivariate logistic regression models were built to identify independent predictors of infection. Of 2282 veterans tested for HCV, 4·6% were confirmed by HCV PCR to be HCV infected. In the multivariate model developed, injection drug use, blood transfusion before 1992, service during the Vietnam era, tattoo, and a history of abnormal liver function tests were independent predictors of HCV infection. Our data support considering a more targeted screening approach that includes five of the 11 risk factors.

Type
Research Article
Information
Epidemiology & Infection , Volume 134 , Issue 2 , April 2006 , pp. 249 - 257
Copyright
2005 Cambridge University Press

Footnotes

This study was presented in part at the 2004 Annual Meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America in Boston, MA, USA.