title: Estimating the Number of Patients Infected With Chronic HCV in the United States Who Meet Highest or High-Priority Treatment Criteria.
abstract: We estimated the number of people infected with HCV in the United States who would qualify for immediate treatment according to the 2014 guidance. We based fibrosis stage on biopsy results, when available, or on FIB-4 scores. We used laboratory tests and International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification codes to determine if patients had any qualifying comorbidities. Of the 2.7 million people with HCV infection, we assumed that 1.35 million (50%) had been diagnosed. We estimated 457, 000 met the highest and 356, 000 the high-priority criteria for treatment, indicating that as many as 813,000 people could be treated immediately with new therapies. These estimates can inform planning efforts to address clinical capacity constraints and treatment costs.
authors.affiliation: Fujie Xu, Andrew J. Leidner, Xin Tong, and Scott D. Holmberg are with the Division of Viral Hepatitis, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA.
authors.forename: Fujie
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Andrew J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Leidner
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Tong
authors.forename: Scott D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Holmberg
mesh_terms: D000998:Antiviral Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D015897:Comorbidity; D005260:Female; D006292:Health Priorities / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D019698:Hepatitis C, Chronic / Q000150:complications / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009749:Nutrition Surveys / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology
chemical_list: D000998:Antiviral Agents