Impact of race/ethnicity and gender on HCV screening and prevalence among US veterans in department of veterans affairs care

L.I. Backus, P.S. Belperio, T.P. Loomis and L.A. Mole

American Journal of Public Health, 2014, vol. 104, issue S4, S555-S561

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.

Keywords: age; ancestry group; article; ethnic group; ethnology; female; government; hepatitis C; human; male; mass screening; prevalence; retrospective study; sex difference; statistics; United States; veteran; veterans health, Age Factors; Continental Population Groups; Ethnic Groups; Female; Hepatitis C; Humans; Male; Mass Screening; Prevalence; Retrospective Studies; Sex Factors; United States; United States Department of Veterans Affairs; Veterans; Veterans Health (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aph:ajpbhl:10.2105/ajph.2014.302090_1

DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2014.302090

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