Clinician Perspectives Regarding the Detection and Management of Hepatitis C
| Survey Question | % (n) |
|---|---|
| Compared with the common problems you face in practice, how important would you consider hepatitis C to be? (percent responding more important/important; N = 491) | 67.8 (333) |
| Compared with the common medical problems you screen for in practice, how important would you consider screening for HCV to be? (percent responding more important/important; N = 490) | 58.8 (288) |
| The extent to which you agree or disagree about whether primary care providers should be doing the following with respect to hepatitis C (percent responding strongly agree/agree; N = 494*) | |
| Screening | 87.5 (428) |
| Diagnosis | 93.0 (456) |
| Treatment with antiviral therapy | 29.6 (144) |
| Monitoring and follow-up | 66.9 (327) |
| Referral for consultation and comanagement of hepatitis C | 94.9 (463) |
| Referral for all hepatitis C management | 50.6 (247) |
| How do you assess patients for these concerns (N = 490–494): | |
| Intravenous drug use | |
| Routinely ask new patients | 53.8 (266) |
| Ask patients who give a history of other illicit drug use | 54.0 (267) |
| Blood transfusion or solid organ transplant before July 1992 | |
| Routinely ask new patients | 28.4 (139) |
| Ask patients who have abnormal liver function tests | 42.7 (209) |
| Under what circumstances do you order serum ALT levels? (N = 487) | |
| Routine screen for new patients | 25.3 (123) |
| Patients with other risk factors for hepatitis C | 60.6 (295) |
| Patients with a history of hepatitis C | 56.3 (274) |
| How often do you order a hepatitis C antibody test? (percent responding always/frequently; N = 494*) | |
| Patient history of intravenous drug use | 75.9 (375) |
| Patient history of blood transfusion/organ transplant before 1992 | 52.8 (261) |
| Patient with an abnormal serum ALT | 79.6 (393) |
| What percent of patients in your practice with hepatitis C have you referred for treatment? (N = 394)† | |
| <25 | 23.6 (93) |
| 25–75 | 30.2 (119) |
| >75 | 46.2 (182) |
| Do you routinely offer to patients with hepatitis C (N = 397)† | |
| Counseling about alcohol avoidance | 93.7 (371) |
| Counseling about acetaminophen avoidance | 78.6 (312) |
| Hepatitis A vaccination/testing | 84.4 (335) |
| Hepatitis B vaccination/testing | 89.7 (356) |
| HIV testing | 82.4 (327) |
* Minor differences in item responses (range, 487–490).
† Clinicians with hepatitis C patients in their practices.
ALT, alanine aminotransferase; HIV, human immunodeficiency virus.