Active search for hepatitis C patients in Primary Care

Abstract

Introduction: undiagnosed active hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections are an obstacle to achieve the WHO (World Health Organization) hepatitis C elimination goal by 2030. One of the possible strategies to identify these patients is the active search for patients in primary care (PC). Methods: patient medical records in PC were reviewed with a "hepatitis C" open case in the last five years. Cases with an incomplete diagnostic study (due to the absence of active infection confirmation) or those who did not start or finish treatment were included. A blood analysis was recommended to prove the existence of an active infection. The one-step diagnosis (OSD) was implemented to assess viremia in all patients with a new serologic diagnosis. Results: of 253 cases with a "hepatitis C" open case in their medical records, 24.1 % (61) did not finish the diagnostic study or did not follow the treatment. Four were not suitable candidates to finish the study. Of the other 57, 92.9 % accepted the diagnostic test. Active infections were confirmed in 40 patients (75.4 %) and the treatment was completed in all of them. Conclusions: active searching for patients with hepatitis C in PC together with the OSD are effective measures to detect hidden infections and to increase the number of treatments, thus contributing to the elimination of hepatitis C.