Identification of Risk Factors for Testing of Hepatitis C in Non-Birth Cohort Patients: Is Universal Screening Necessary?

Abstract

CDC reported that 45% of Hepatitis C (HCV) infected people denied known risk factors. Electronic health record RF-based, non-Birth Cohort (born outside of years 1945-1965) screening is challenging as risk factors are often input as nonsearchable data. Testing non-Birth Cohort patients solely based on risk factors has the potential to miss a substantial number of HCV infected patients. The aim was to determine the HCV antibody positive prevalence who would have been missed had providers only followed risk factor based screening recommendations. A 1:3 case-control retrospective nested chart review was conducted. HCV risk factors and opioid prescriptions were manually abstracted from the Electronic Health Record; other variables were collected using Explorys. In July 2015 HCV screening data was collected on non-Birth Cohort patients who were HCV tested across MedStar Health, as a presumptive marker for high risk. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression models were utilized to determine HCV antibody positive predictors. Eighteen (23%) HCV antibody positive and 123 (49%) HCV antibody negative had no identified risk factors; 6 (33%) HCV antibody positive reported risk factors only after a positive test result. There was a significant interaction between age over 40 and opioid prescription use; these groups were 11× more likely to be HCV antibody positive (CI95 1.6-74.8). HCV testing solely based on presence of risk factors in non-Birth Cohort patients has the potential to miss a significant number of HCV antibody positive patients. Given patient- and provider-level barriers in elucidating risk factors, universal HCV antibody screening may be warranted.