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. 2017 Mar/Apr;132(2):136-139.
doi: 10.1177/0033354916689610. Epub 2017 Jan 30.

Engagement in the Hepatitis C Care Cascade Among Homeless Veterans, 2015

Amanda J Noska  1 , Pamela S Belperio  2 , Timothy P Loomis  2 , Thomas P O'Toole  1 , Lisa I Backus  2
Affiliations

Engagement in the Hepatitis C Care Cascade Among Homeless Veterans, 2015

Amanda J Noska et al. Public Health Rep. 2017 Mar/Apr.

Abstract

The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) is the largest provider of hepatitis C virus (HCV) care nationally and provides health care to >200 000 homeless veterans each year. We used the VHA's Corporate Data Warehouse and HCV Clinical Case Registry to evaluate engagement in the HCV care cascade among homeless and nonhomeless veterans in VHA care in 2015. We estimated that, among 242 740 homeless veterans in care and 5 424 712 nonhomeless veterans in care, 144 964 (13.4%) and 188 156 (3.5%), respectively, had chronic HCV infection. Compared with nonhomeless veterans, homeless veterans were more likely to be diagnosed with chronic HCV infection and linked to HCV care but less likely to have received antiviral therapy despite comparable sustained virologic response rates. Homelessness should not necessarily preclude HCV treatment eligibility with available all-oral antiviral regimens.

Keywords: hepatitis C; homeless; veterans.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting Interests: The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

References

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