Annals Internal Medicine, Author Interviews, Health Care Systems, Hepatitis - Liver Disease, UC Davis / 04.12.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Barbara J Turner MD, MSED, MA, MACP Senior Advisor, Gehr Family Center for Health Systems Science Professor of Clinical Medicine Keck School of Medicine, USC  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Chronic hepatitis C (HCV) infection affects millions of persons in the United States but especially minorities and persons from low income communities. Current national guidelines recommend testing all baby boomers (born 1945 – 65) for HCV with the aim of ultimately curing those with chronic HCV infection with a short course of highly effective medication.  However implementation of these guidelines faces many hurdles in “safety net” practices serving vulnerable populations. (more…)
AACR, Author Interviews, Cancer Research, Hepatitis - Liver Disease / 29.03.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Monica Kasting PhD first author Dr. Anna Giuliano PhD Susan. T. Vadaparampil, Ph.D., M.P.H. Senior Member/Professor Center for Infection Research in Cancer H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa, Florida.Department of Cancer Epidemiology, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa, Florida  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?  Response: In the U.S., approximately 1 in 30 baby boomers are chronically infected with hepatitis C virus. Half of all cases of liver cancer are caused by hepatitis C and liver cancer is one of only three cancer types that are actually increasing in incidence in the US. Because of this, in 2012 the CDC issued a recommendation for universal screening for hepatitis C virus for everyone born between 1945 and 1965 (baby boomers). We wanted to look at the time period after that to see if the rates of screening in that population increased. From 2013-2015 screening among baby boomers only increased by 0.9% (from 11.8% to 12.7%) which indicates we still have a long way to go before we meet our goal of universal screening.  (more…)