PMID- 23239521
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20130705
LR  - 20211021
IS  - 1527-3350 (Electronic)
IS  - 0270-9139 (Print)
IS  - 0270-9139 (Linking)
VI  - 57
IP  - 4
DP  - 2013 Apr
TI  - Hepatitis C screening: getting it right.
PG  - 1644-50
LID - 10.1002/hep.26194 [doi]
AB  - Hepatitis C is the most prevalent bloodborne viral disease in the United States 
      and the deadliest. This year, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) 
      will update its 2004 hepatitis C guideline, which recommends against screening 
      asymptomatic adults for hepatitis C. This guideline has hampered public health 
      efforts to encourage screening and identify and refer infected persons for care 
      by declaring that such interventions were not supported by the evidence. A draft 
      revision of the guideline, released on November 26, 2012, concludes that testing 
      persons born between 1945 and 1965 probably has at least a small net benefit, but 
      stops short of definitively recommending that this cohort be screened. This 
      article examines the Task Force's process for writing its guidelines. It 
      recommends that the Task Force adopt a balanced approach to evaluating the 
      benefits and harms of screening; use the preponderance of the evidence as a 
      standard for evaluating interventions that target serious public health problems; 
      be transparent about the value judgments that go into its decisions; consider the 
      wide variation in disease prevalence in diverse patient populations; and 
      recommend screening asymptomatic adults for hepatitis C. CONCLUSION: By taking a 
      broader view of the evidence, the Task Force can write new guidelines that will 
      serve efforts to curb the hepatitis C epidemic, rather than frustrate them.
CI  - Copyright (c) 2012 American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases.
FAU - Edlin, Brian R
AU  - Edlin BR
AD  - National Development and Research Institutes, New York, NY 10010, USA. 
      bredlin.nyc@gmail.com
LA  - eng
GR  - R01 DA016159/DA/NIDA NIH HHS/United States
GR  - R01 DA021550/DA/NIDA NIH HHS/United States
GR  - R01 DA029512/DA/NIDA NIH HHS/United States
PT  - Journal Article
DEP - 20121224
PL  - United States
TA  - Hepatology
JT  - Hepatology (Baltimore, Md.)
JID - 8302946
SB  - IM
MH  - Advisory Committees/trends
MH  - Evidence-Based Medicine
MH  - Health Planning Guidelines
MH  - Hepatitis C/*diagnosis/epidemiology/*prevention & control
MH  - Humans
MH  - Mass Screening/*trends
MH  - Preventive Health Services/trends
MH  - United States/epidemiology
PMC - PMC4751877
MID - NIHMS756508
COIS- Potential conflict of interest: Nothing to report.
EDAT- 2012/12/15 06:00
MHDA- 2013/07/06 06:00
PMCR- 2016/02/12
CRDT- 2012/12/15 06:00
PHST- 2012/10/26 00:00 [received]
PHST- 2012/12/05 00:00 [accepted]
PHST- 2012/12/15 06:00 [entrez]
PHST- 2012/12/15 06:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2013/07/06 06:00 [medline]
PHST- 2016/02/12 00:00 [pmc-release]
AID - 10.1002/hep.26194 [doi]
PST - ppublish
SO  - Hepatology. 2013 Apr;57(4):1644-50. doi: 10.1002/hep.26194. Epub 2012 Dec 24.