Hepatitis C

USPSTF Updates Hep C Screening Recommendations

In a new draft recommendation statement, the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) now recommends that clinicians screen all adults aged 18 to 79 years for hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection at least once.

The Task Force gave the new recommendation a B grade, concluding “with moderate certainty that screening for HCV infection in adults ages 18 to 79 years has substantial net benefit.”

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The new recommendation serves as an update to the USPSTF’s 2013 statement, which recommended screening only adults with high risk of HCV infection, as well as baby boomers born between 1945 and 1965.

The statement also notes:

  • Persons with injection drug use should be screened periodically, as past or present injection drug use is the most important risk factor for HCV infection.
  • Pregnant women should be screened.
  • Clinicians may want to consider screening high-risk individuals younger than age 18 years or older than age 79 years.
  • Clinicians may want to consider screening pregnant individuals younger than 18 years.


Clinicians should perform screening via anti-HCV antibody testing, followed by polymerase chain reaction testing for HCV RNA if the results of antibody testing are positive, according to the USPSTF.

—Christina Vogt

Reference:

US Preventive Services Task Force. Draft recommendation statement: hepatitis C virus infection in adolescents and adults: screening. https://www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org/Page/Document/draft-recommendation-statement/hepatitis-c-screening1. Updated August 2019. Accessed August 28, 2019.