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THURSDAY, March 5, 2020 (HealthDay News) — Less than one-quarter of infants exposed to hepatitis C virus (HCV) receive testing, according to a study published in the March issue of Pediatrics<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Susan M. Lopata, M.D., from the Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee, and colleagues used vital statistics-linked administrative data for infants born from 2005 through 2014 to identify infants exposed to HCV who were enrolled in the Tennessee Medicaid program.<\/p>\n
The researchers found that 23 percent of 4,072 infants exposed to HCV were tested. Testing was more likely among infants whose mothers were white versus African-American (96.6 versus 3.1 percent), used tobacco (78 versus 70 percent), and had HIV (1.3 versus 0.4 percent). Testing was also more likely among exposed infants who had a higher median of well-child visits (seven versus six visits). African-American infants were less likely to undergo general testing (adjusted odds ratio, 0.32) when accounting for maternal and infant characteristics and health care use patterns.<\/p>\n
“Public health systems need to be bolstered to ensure that infants exposed to HCV are tested for seroconversion,” the authors write.<\/p>\n
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