Work

Impact of Race/Ethnicity and Gender on HCV Screening and Prevalence Among US Veterans in Department of Veterans Affairs Care

Year: 2014

Type: article

Abstract: OBJECTIVES: We assessed HCV screening and prevalence among veterans and estimated the potential impact of complete birth cohort screening, accounting for the disparate HCV disease burden by race/ethnicity and gender. METHODS: We used the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Corporate Data Warehouse to identify birth dates, gender, race/ethnicity, and laboratory tests for veterans with at least 1 VA outpatient visit in 2012. We calculated HCV screening rates, prevalence, and HCV infection incident diagnosis. RESULTS: Among 5,499,743 veterans, 54.7% had HCV screening through the VA. In more than 2.9 million veterans screened, HCV prevalence was 6.1% overall and highest among Blacks (11.8%), particularly Black men born in 1945 to 1965 (17.7%). HCV infection incident diagnosis in 2012 was 5.9% for men and 2.3% for women. An estimated additional 48,928 male veterans, including 12,291 Black men, and 1484 female veterans would potentially be identified as HCV infected with full birth cohort screening. CONCLUSIONS: HCV prevalence was markedly elevated among veterans born in 1945 to 1965, with substantial variation by race/ethnicity and gender. Full adoption of birth cohort screening may reveal substantial numbers of veterans with previously unknown HCV infection.

Source: American Journal of Public Health

DOI: 10.2105/ajph.2014.302090

Authors: Lisa I. Backus, Pamela S. Belperio, Timothy P. Loomis, Larry A. Mole

Institutions: VA Palo Alto Health Care System, VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System

Language: English

Topic: Hepatitis C virus research

Subfield: Hepatology

Field: Medicine

Domain: Health Sciences

SDGs: Good health and well-being, Reduced inequalities

Open Access status: green

Funder: U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs