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Collaborative Referral Model for Hepatitis C Screening and Treatment in a Remote Mountainous Region of Taiwan during the COVID-19 Pandemic
Community-based screening for the hepatitis C virus (HCV) decreased during the COVID-19 pandemic. We developed a collaborative referral model between a primary clinic (Liouguei District Public Health Center, LDPHC) and a tertiary referral center to increase HCV screening and treatment uptake in a mo...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
MDPI
2023
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10142212/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37112808 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/v15040827 |
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author | Tai, Chi-Ming Bair, Ming-Jong Chen, Tzu-Haw Tseng, Cheng-Hao Chen, Chih-Cheng Lam, Hung Yu, Ming-Lung |
author_facet | Tai, Chi-Ming Bair, Ming-Jong Chen, Tzu-Haw Tseng, Cheng-Hao Chen, Chih-Cheng Lam, Hung Yu, Ming-Lung |
author_sort | Tai, Chi-Ming |
collection | PubMed |
description | Community-based screening for the hepatitis C virus (HCV) decreased during the COVID-19 pandemic. We developed a collaborative referral model between a primary clinic (Liouguei District Public Health Center, LDPHC) and a tertiary referral center to increase HCV screening and treatment uptake in a mountainous region of Taiwan. Once-in-a-lifetime hepatitis B and C screening services established by the Taiwan National Health Insurance were performed at LDPHC. Antibody-to-HCV (anti-HCV)-seropositive patients received scheduled referrals and took a shuttle bus to E-Da hospital for HCV RNA testing on their first visit. Direct-acting antiviral agents (DAAs) were prescribed for HCV-viremic patients on their second visit. From October 2020 to September 2022, of 3835 residents eligible for HCV screening in Liouguei District, 1879 (49%) received anti-HCV testing at LDPHC. The overall HCV screening coverage rate increased from 40% before referral to 69.4% after referral. Of the 79 anti-HCV-seropositive patients, 70 (88.6%) were successfully referred. Of the 38 HCV-viremic patients, 35 (92.1%) received DAA therapy, and 32 (91.4%) achieved sustained virological response. The collaborative referral model demonstrates a good model for HCV screening and access to care and treatment in a Taiwan mountainous region, even during the COVID-19 pandemic. Sustained referral is possible using this routine referral model. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-10142212 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2023 |
publisher | MDPI |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-101422122023-04-29 Collaborative Referral Model for Hepatitis C Screening and Treatment in a Remote Mountainous Region of Taiwan during the COVID-19 Pandemic Tai, Chi-Ming Bair, Ming-Jong Chen, Tzu-Haw Tseng, Cheng-Hao Chen, Chih-Cheng Lam, Hung Yu, Ming-Lung Viruses Article Community-based screening for the hepatitis C virus (HCV) decreased during the COVID-19 pandemic. We developed a collaborative referral model between a primary clinic (Liouguei District Public Health Center, LDPHC) and a tertiary referral center to increase HCV screening and treatment uptake in a mountainous region of Taiwan. Once-in-a-lifetime hepatitis B and C screening services established by the Taiwan National Health Insurance were performed at LDPHC. Antibody-to-HCV (anti-HCV)-seropositive patients received scheduled referrals and took a shuttle bus to E-Da hospital for HCV RNA testing on their first visit. Direct-acting antiviral agents (DAAs) were prescribed for HCV-viremic patients on their second visit. From October 2020 to September 2022, of 3835 residents eligible for HCV screening in Liouguei District, 1879 (49%) received anti-HCV testing at LDPHC. The overall HCV screening coverage rate increased from 40% before referral to 69.4% after referral. Of the 79 anti-HCV-seropositive patients, 70 (88.6%) were successfully referred. Of the 38 HCV-viremic patients, 35 (92.1%) received DAA therapy, and 32 (91.4%) achieved sustained virological response. The collaborative referral model demonstrates a good model for HCV screening and access to care and treatment in a Taiwan mountainous region, even during the COVID-19 pandemic. Sustained referral is possible using this routine referral model. MDPI 2023-03-24 /pmc/articles/PMC10142212/ /pubmed/37112808 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/v15040827 Text en © 2023 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
spellingShingle | Article Tai, Chi-Ming Bair, Ming-Jong Chen, Tzu-Haw Tseng, Cheng-Hao Chen, Chih-Cheng Lam, Hung Yu, Ming-Lung Collaborative Referral Model for Hepatitis C Screening and Treatment in a Remote Mountainous Region of Taiwan during the COVID-19 Pandemic |
title | Collaborative Referral Model for Hepatitis C Screening and Treatment in a Remote Mountainous Region of Taiwan during the COVID-19 Pandemic |
title_full | Collaborative Referral Model for Hepatitis C Screening and Treatment in a Remote Mountainous Region of Taiwan during the COVID-19 Pandemic |
title_fullStr | Collaborative Referral Model for Hepatitis C Screening and Treatment in a Remote Mountainous Region of Taiwan during the COVID-19 Pandemic |
title_full_unstemmed | Collaborative Referral Model for Hepatitis C Screening and Treatment in a Remote Mountainous Region of Taiwan during the COVID-19 Pandemic |
title_short | Collaborative Referral Model for Hepatitis C Screening and Treatment in a Remote Mountainous Region of Taiwan during the COVID-19 Pandemic |
title_sort | collaborative referral model for hepatitis c screening and treatment in a remote mountainous region of taiwan during the covid-19 pandemic |
topic | Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10142212/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37112808 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/v15040827 |
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