Implementation of a re-linkage to care strategy in patients with chronic hepatitis C who were lost to follow-up in Latin America.
Latin America
care cascade
elimination
hepatitis C virus
retrieval
Journal
Journal of viral hepatitis
ISSN: 1365-2893
Titre abrégé: J Viral Hepat
Pays: England
ID NLM: 9435672
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
01 2023
01 2023
Historique:
revised:
25
09
2022
received:
18
07
2022
accepted:
02
10
2022
pubmed:
6
10
2022
medline:
23
12
2022
entrez:
5
10
2022
Statut:
ppublish
Résumé
To achieve WHO's goal of eliminating hepatitis C virus (HCV), innovative strategies must be designed to diagnose and treat more patients. Therefore, we aimed to describe an implementation strategy to identify patients with HCV who were lost to follow-up (LTFU) and offer them re-linkage to HCV care. We conducted an implementation study utilizing a strategy to contact patients with HCV who were not under regular follow-up in 13 countries from Latin America. Patients with HCV were identified by the international classification of diseases (ICD-9/10) or equivalent. Medical records were then reviewed to confirm the diagnosis of chronic HCV infection defined by anti-HCV+ and detectable HCV-RNA. Identified patients who were not under follow-up by a liver specialist were contacted by telephone or email, and offered a medical reevaluation. A total of 10,364 patients were classified to have HCV. After reviewing their medical charts, 1349 (13%) had undetectable HCV-RNA or were wrongly coded. Overall, 9015 (86.9%) individuals were identified with chronic HCV infection. A total of 5096 (56.5%) patients were under routine HCV care and 3919 (43.5%) had been LTFU. We were able to contact 1617 (41.3%) of the 3919 patients who were LTFU at the primary medical institution, of which 427 (26.4%) were cured at a different institutions or were dead. Of the remaining patients, 906 (76.1%) were candidates for retrieval. In our cohort, about one out of four patients with chronic HCV who were LTFU were candidates to receive treatment. This strategy has the potential to be effective, accessible and significantly impacts on the HCV care cascade.
Types de publication
Journal Article
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Langues
eng
Sous-ensembles de citation
IM
Pagination
56-63Informations de copyright
© 2022 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Références
Polaris Observatory HCV Collaborators. Global change in hepatitis C virus prevalence and cascade of care between 2015 and 2020: a modelling study. Lancet Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2022;7:395-415.
Pan American Health Organization. Hepatitis B and C in the spotlight. A public health response in the Americas. 2016. Accessed May 2, 2022. https://iris.paho.org/handle/10665.2/31449
World Health Organization. Global health sector strategy on viral hepatitis 2016-2021. Towards ending viral hepatitis. 2016. Accessed May 2, 2022. https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/246177
Mendizabal M, Alonso C, Silva MO. Overcoming barriers to hepatitis C elimination. Frontline Gastroenterol. 2019;10:207-209.
Guerra Veloz MF, Del Pino Bellido P, Cordero Ruiz P, et al. HCV microelimination strategies: an interventional study in diagnosed patients without access to the system. Liver Int. 2021;41:928-933.
Heil J, Soufidi K, Stals F, et al. Retrieval and re-evaluation of previously diagnosed chronic hepatitis C infections lost to medical follow-up in the Netherlands. Eur J Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2020;32:851-856.
Yen HH, Su PY, Liu II, et al. Retrieval of lost patients in the system for hepatitis C microelimination: a single-center retrospective study. BMC Gastroenterol. 2021;21:209.
Aleman S, Söderholm J, Büsch K, Kövamees J, Duberg AS. Frequent loss to follow-up after diagnosis of hepatitis C virus infection: a barrier towards the elimination of hepatitis C virus. Liver Int. 2020;40:1832-1840.
Kracht PAM, Arends JE, van Erpecum KJ, et al. REtrieval And cure of Chronic Hepatitis C (REACH): results of micro-elimination in the Utrecht province. Liver Int. 2019;39:455-462.
Vargas-Accarino E, Martínez-Campreciós J, Domínguez-Hernández R, et al. Cost-effectiveness analysis of an active search to retrieve HCV patients lost to follow-up (RELINK-C strategy) and the impact of COVID-19. J Viral Hepat. 2022;29:579-583.
Von Elm E, Altman DG, Egger M, et al. The Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) statement: guidelines for reporting observational studies. Lancet. 2007;370:1453-1457.
Chi BH, Yiannoutsos CT, Westfall AO, et al. Universal definition of loss to follow-up in HIV treatment programs: a statistical analysis of 111 facilities in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. PLoS Med. 2011;8:e1001111.
Harris P, Taylor R, Minor B, et al. The REDCap consortium: building an international community of software partners. J Biomed Inform. 2019;95:103208.
Angeli P, Bernardi M, Villanueva C, et al. EASL clinical practice guidelines for the management of patients with decompensated cirrhosis. J Hepatol. 2018;69:406-460.
Kattakuzhy S, Gross C, Emmanuel B, et al. Expansion of treatment for hepatitis C virus infection by task shifting to community-based nonspecialist providers a nonrandomized clinical trial. Ann Intern Med. 2017;167:311-318.
Dore GJ, Hajarizadeh B. Elimination of hepatitis C virus in Australia: laying the foundation. Infect Dis Clin North Am. 2018;32:269-279.
Mendizabal M, Ridruejo E, Ceballos S, et al. The ECHO model proved to be a useful tool to increase clinicians' self-effectiveness for care of patients with hepatitis C in Argentina. J Viral Hepat. 2019;26:1284-1292.
Wyatt B, Perumalswami PV, Mageras A, et al. A digital case-finding algorithm for diagnosed but untreated hepatitis C: a tool for increasing linkage to treatment and cure. Hepatology. 2021;74:2974-2987.
Viner K, Kuncio D, Newbern EC, Johnson CC. The continuum of hepatitis C testing and care. Hepatology. 2015;61:783-789.
Isfordink CJ, van Dijk M, Brakenhoff SM, et al. Hepatitis C elimination in the Netherlands (CELINE): how nationwide retrieval of lost to follow-up hepatitis C patients contributes to micro-elimination. Eur J Intern Med. 2022;101:93-97.
Beekmans N, Klemt-Kropp M. Re-evaluation of chronic hepatitis B and hepatitis C patients lost to follow-up: results of the Northern Holland hepatitis retrieval project. Hepatol Med Policy. 2018;3:5.
van Dijk M, Drenth JPH, Arends JE, et al. Loss to follow-up in the hepatitis C care cascade: a substantial problem but opportunity for micro-elimination. J Viral Hepat. 2020;27:1270-1283.