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CDC recommends one-time hepatitis C test for all baby boomers
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The CDC has recommended that all adults born from 1945 to 1965 get a one-time test for the hepatitis C virus, according to Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
“A one-time blood test for hepatitis C should be on every baby boomer’s medical checklist,” CDC director Thomas R. Frieden, MD, MPH, said in a press release. “The new recommendations can protect the health of an entire generation of Americans and save thousands of lives.”
Previously, the CDC recommended that only individuals with known risk factors for hepatitis C, such as injection drug use or receiving a blood transfusion prior to 1992, be tested for the virus. The CDC estimates that testing all baby boomers just once would identify more than 800,000 people with the virus, allowing them to receive appropriate treatment and saving more than 120,000 lives.
It is estimated that one in 30 baby boomers are infected with hepatitis C and most of them do not know it. More than 15,000 Americans, mostly baby boomers, die each year from hepatitis C–related illness, such as cirrhosis and liver cancer. Deaths from hepatitis C have been increasing and the number is expected to increase in the coming years.
References:
CDC. MMWR. 2012;61:1-31.
Disclosures:
The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
Perspective
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Douglas Dieterich, MD
This recommendation was based on a study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine looking at the prevalence of hepatitis C in the baby boomer population. There was a cost-effectiveness part of the study that showed that treatment of the baby boomers with hepatitis C is cost-effective. Baby boomers have the bulk of hepatitis C in the country and as they get older, their hepatitis C is getting worse. In the next 10 years, the number of people expected to die from untreated liver disease is expected to quadruple, unless we do something about it. The CDC took a giant step forward with this recommendation to all internists and primary care providers to make hepatitis C antibody testing part of routine physical exams for baby boomers. The prediction is that it will uncover almost a million new cases of hepatitis C in the country. If these people can be diagnosed, they can be treated, hopefully preventing cirrhosis and liver cancer.
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