P0910 - The Alarming Disparity in Hepatitis C Screening Within the Younger Population: A Quality Improvement Project

Ranbir Singh, MD¹, Miguel Lacayo, MD¹, Michael Liben, MD², Aaron Yee, MD¹, Frederic Karim, MD³, Zhongqian Lin, DO², Aashvi Dalal, MD¹, Anas Zaher, MD¹, Sara Hasan, MD¹, Pratishtha Singh, MD¹, Ilan Weisberg, MD^4
1NYP Brooklyn Methodist Hospital, Brooklyn, NY; ²NYP Brooklyn Methodist, Brooklyn, NY; ³NYP Brooklyn Methodist, Brookyln, NY; ⁴New York Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital, Brooklyn, NY

Introduction: In 2020, the CDC recommended screening adults between 18 –79 years old for Hepatitis C Virus (HCV). Young adults between 18-30 have the highest rate of new HCV cases, yet this population requires fewer screening tests. This raises the question of whether they are being screened for HCV equally to the older population. This Quality Improvement project assessed if an outpatient clinic screened young adults for HCV.

Methods: Charts were obtained of 500 patients between 18 - 79 who came to the chosen outpatient clinic between 8/14/22 and 9/14/22. Age and HCV testing status were extracted, as shown in Table 1. The rates were compared via the two-proportion z-test to determine statistical significance. A lecture in December 2022 about the epidemiology of HCV and the updated guidelines by the CDC was provided to all internal medicine residents of the respective clinic. A slide from the lecture is shown in Figure 1. Charts of 500 new patients were checked for screening with the same method and statistical analysis between 3/1/23 to 4/1/23, and the rates were compared.

Results: It was discovered that there was a statistically significant difference in the screening rates for patients between 18-30 and 31-79 at 28.2% and 40.9%, respectively (p < .05). After the project intervention, there was a significant increase in screening tests ordered for the young adult population at 59.3% (p < .05). There was an increase in the rate of young patients who tested positive and obtained treatment which was 57.4% from 8.7% (p < .05). The results are shown on Table 1.

Discussion: It is evident in this study that despite having the highest rate of new cases of HCV out of any age group, young adults between the ages of 18-30 are being neglected for screening. Hypothesized reasons for this disparity among young patients is not many of them visit a clinic. In our study, out of the 500 charts collected before and after the intervention, about 10% were young patients. Another reason could be a need for more awareness in the medical community of this new screening guideline published by the CDC in 2020. Our study has shown that increasing awareness of this disparity and the new screening guidelines for resident physicians led to a significant increase in the screening rates and treatment for HCV in the younger population. However, more work needs to be done to have higher screening rates and bring young patients to the clinic, which is what our quality improvement project will continue to strive for.




Disclosures:


Ranbir Singh, MD¹, Miguel Lacayo, MD¹, Michael Liben, MD², Aaron Yee, MD¹, Frederic Karim, MD³, Zhongqian Lin, DO², Aashvi Dalal, MD¹, Anas Zaher, MD¹, Sara Hasan, MD¹, Pratishtha Singh, MD¹, Ilan Weisberg, MD⁴. P0910 - The Alarming Disparity in Hepatitis C Screening Within the Younger Population: A Quality Improvement Project, ACG 2023 Annual Scientific Meeting Abstracts. Vancouver, BC, Canada: American College of Gastroenterology.