Hepatitis C infection screening and connection to care among postpartum patients and exposed infants in two community hospitals, 3-year follow-up - Oregon, 2019-2024

Determine prevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) positivity among postpartum patients to inform prenatal screening recommendations, postpartum connection to care, and infant HCV screening practices. Convenience sample of postpartum patients at one urban and one suburban hospital to undergo rapid fing...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of perinatology
Main Authors: Buser, Genevieve L, Marginean, Horia, Dada, Mayen, Woodward, Savannah, Young, Alexis, Chen, Chiayi, Tomlinson, Mark W
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: United States 05-10-2024
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Determine prevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) positivity among postpartum patients to inform prenatal screening recommendations, postpartum connection to care, and infant HCV screening practices. Convenience sample of postpartum patients at one urban and one suburban hospital to undergo rapid fingerstick testing for hepatitis C antibodies. Of 2060 postpartum participants successfully screened, 20 (0.97%) had evidence of past or current HCV infection. One co-infection with syphilis occurred. After a median follow-up of 3.75 years, 6 of 12 participants (50.0%) with chronic HCV infection completed treatment with cure, and 9 of 20 infants (45.0%) completed screening. One neonatal transmission event occurred (5.8%). HCV infection was more common in our postpartum population than other viral infections routinely screened for during pregnancy. Efforts to decrease perinatal HCV transmission should focus on early postpartum connection to treatment team, early screening in infants aged 2-6 months, and pediatric test completion.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 23
ISSN:0743-8346
1476-5543
1476-5543
DOI:10.1038/s41372-024-02138-4