Data/hora: 06/06/2024 11:36:25

Provedor de dados: | 55
País: | Brazil
Título: | How are HCV-infected patients being identified in Brazil: a multicenter study
Autores: | Portari-Filho,Luiz H.; Álvares-da-Silva,Mario R.; Gonzalez,Aline; Ferreira,Adalgisa P.; Nogueira,Cristiane V.; Mendes-Correa,Maria C.; Lima,José M.; Lopes,Edmundo P.; Brandão,Carlos E.; Ivantes,Cláudia; Lyra,André; Lindenberg,Andreia; Ferraz,Maria L.
Data: | 2019-01-01
Ano: | 2019
Palavras-chave: | Epidemiology; Hepatitis C; HCV; Brazil.
Resumo: | ABSTRACT  Background: Hepatitis C is an important health problem. In Brazil, 1-2 million people are infected. Despite this expressive number, and the availability of very successful treatment, many patients remained undiagnosed mainly because of the asymptomatic nature of the infection.  Objectives: To describe epidemiological characteristics of HCV-infected patients seen at referral centers in Brazil, the source of referral, and the time spanned to reach a reference center, in order to improve the identification of undiagnosed patients.  Methods: Multicenter observational, cross-sectional study carried out in 15 centers of Brazil, between January/2016 and June/2017. Data of patients with a confirmed diagnosis (anti-HCV and HCV-RNA) were collected by interview using standard questionnaires and by review of charts.  Results: Two thousand patients were included; 55.1% were male, mean age 58 ± 11 years. Only 14.9% had higher education and 84.2% received up to five monthly minimum Brazilian wages (approximately US$260.00/month). The time between diagnosis and beginning of follow-up was 22.9 months. The most common reasons for testing were check-up (33.2%) and blood donation (19%). General practitioners diagnosed most of the patients (30.1%). Fibrosis stage was mainly evaluated by liver biopsy (61.5%) and 31.3% of the patients were cirrhotic at diagnosis.  Conclusions: This multicenter Brazilian study showed that the mean time to reach a referral center for treatment was almost two years. Primary care physicians diagnoses most hepatitis C cases in the country. Population campaigns and medical education should be encouraged to intensify screening of asymptomatic individuals, considering the efficiency of check-ups in identifying new patients.
Tipo: | Info:eu-repo/semantics/article
Idioma: | Inglês
Identificador: | http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1413-86702019000100034
Editor: | Brazilian Society of Infectious Diseases
Relação: | 10.1016/j.bjid.2019.01.006
Formato: | text/html
Fonte: | Brazilian Journal of Infectious Diseases  v.23 n.1 2019
Fonte: | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess