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“Most patients with chronic hepatitis C infection are asymptomatic,” Kim said. “Importantly, the proportion of people with cirrhosis was the same between hepatitis C positive individuals who were aware of their infection and those who were not,” adding that chronic HCV is now curable, therefore improved outcome can be expected from a prompt screening and appropriate treatments.
The rate of cirrhosis found among patients with hepatitis C virus infection increased over time, including individuals who were unaware they had hepatitis C, according to published findings.
“The number of Americans who have cirrhosis from chronic HCV infection has increased over time, due to aging of the baby boomers with hepatitis C. These data emphasize that healthcare providers should practice the CDC recommendation to screen individuals born between 1945 [and] 1965,” W. Ray Kim, MD, professor of medicine, division of gastroenterology and hepatology, Stanford University School of Medicine, told Healio.com/Hepatology.
Kim and colleagues evaluated data of 725 patients with HCV found in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey database, to determine the prevalence of cirrhosis among American adults with HCV and those unaware of their HCV infection status between three separate periods: 1988 to 1994, 1999 to 2006 and 2007 to 2012. Advanced fibrosis and cirrhosis status were measured by available Fibrosis-4 (FIB-4) and aspartate aminotransferase to platelet ratio index (APRI) scores.