VIDEO: Infants born to women with HCV, cirrhosis not receiving testing, follow-up

Despite diagnoses of hepatitis C virus and cirrhosis in mothers, many infants are not tested within guidelines for possible transmission, according to a presentation at The Digital Liver Meeting Experience.

“Very few of these children actually were screened for hepatitis C after they were born,” Nancy S. Reau, MD, said in an interview with Healio. “Only about 32% of infants were tested after the first year.”

In this study, researchers looked specifically at women with a diagnosis of HCV and subsequent cirrhosis, hypothesizing that these women were at higher risk for both decompensation and possible transmission. Reau noted the decompensation rates were not alarming but the lack of long-term follow-up was.

“There were more children that were actually tested than that – although still a minority of the group – and most of that testing occurred within the first year of life, so outside of what you would recommend with screening guidelines,” she said.

Reau noted that guidelines indicate antibody testing should occur at 18 months with confirmatory PCR testing at 3 years of age.

“Although there is no ability to see if these children were transitioned into curative therapy, you would worry that many of these pregnant women with hepatitis C, their children were not followed appropriately,” Reau said.