viral hepatitis case-finding in primary care
Research type
Research Study
Full title
A Feasibility Study of Case-Finding Strategies for the Detection of Hepatitis B and C in Primary Care: This is an important study to investigate how hepatitis B (HBV) and hepatitis C (HCV) detection can be practiced and improved in primary care. There is an unmet need to address how community testing can be achieved in primary care; where despite NICE testing recommendations from 2012, there remains poor and patchy testing practice across the country. This is in the context of a rising morbidity and mortality from liver disease and HCV specifically in the UK, and with the development of new revolutionary HCV treatments, which mean that we will soon be able to offer highly efficacious and low-side effect profile drugs to cure HCV. But this depends on having effective case-finding strategies to identify the mostly asymptomatic victims of viral hepatitis. In the current resource constrained primary care environment, it is crucial to develop practical, efficient and acceptable case-finding strategies to identify these individuals before complications arise.
IRAS ID
157469
Contact name
Sanju Mathew
Contact email
Research summary
Hepatitis B and C (HBV and HCV) are the leading causes of end-stage liver disease (cirrhosis) and liver cancer world-wide. Liver disease is the 5th biggest killer in the UK, with viral hepatitis one of the three main drivers of this. The morbidity and mortality related to HCV has risen year on year in the UK. The majority of patients with chronic viral hepatitis have few symptoms, and most patients are thought to remain undetected in the community. Offering testing to at-risk groups is nationally and internationally recommended (case-finding), and there are effective and even revolutionary treatments underway for viral hepatitis.
NICE guidance was issued in 2012 to identify those groups who should be offered HBV and HCV testing, with primary care a principal focus of this guidance to improve community case-finding. However adoption of this guidance is thought to be poor and patchy in primary care across the country. There is no standardised strategy of how testing can be achieved, and little research to guide effective testing-strategies in primary care.
This study will prospectively compare three possible strategies for GP practices to offer HBV and HCV testing to patients groups identified in NICE guidance, in comparison to usual (current) testing practice.
This is a feasibility study to identify practical and effective testing strategies in primary care to facilitate the recommendations set forth in NICE guidance. GP practices are increasingly burdened with additional workload, and the need for developing and proving effective testing strategies is imperative to improve community case-finding practice.REC name
East of England - Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
14/EE/1159
Date of REC Opinion
29 Sep 2014
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion