Sociodemographic Trends in National Ambulatory Care Visits for Hepatitis C Virus Infection

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Dig Dis Sci. 2008 Dec 23. [Epub ahead of print]

Sociodemographic Trends in National Ambulatory Care Visits for Hepatitis C Virus

Infection.

Tsui JI, Maselli J, R.

Division of General Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine, Boston University

School of Medicine/Boston Medical Center, 801 Massachusetts Ave, 2nd floor,

Boston, MA, 02118, USA, judith.tsui@....

Poor and non-white patients are disproportionately infected with the hepatitis C

virus (HCV). The objective of this research is to determine sociodemographic

patterns of HCV-related ambulatory care visits over time. Data from the National

Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS) and the National Hospital Ambulatory

Medical Care Survey-Outpatient (NHAMCS-OPD) for the years 1997-2005 were

analyzed in 3-year intervals. Demographic and other variables were compared for

each period, and multivariable logistic regression was performed to examine

whether the likelihood of a visit being HCV-related (versus non-HCV) was

independently associated with (1) race and/or (2) Medicaid status over time. The

total number of HCV-related ambulatory visits more than doubled from 3,583,585

during the years 1997-1999 to 8,027,166 during 2003-2005. During this time, the

proportion of non-whites and Medicaid recipients presenting for HCV-related

visits approximately doubled (non-whites: 16% vs. 33%, P = 0.04; Medicaid

recipients: 10% vs. 25%, P = 0.07). In 2003-2005, HCV-related visits were more

than twice as likely to occur among non-white patients vs. white patients (OR =

2.49; 95% CI: 1.60-3.86) and patients on Medicaid vs. non-Medicaid (3.49;

1.79-6.80). Our results show that HCV-associated ambulatory care visits are

increasing, with a greater proportion of visits occurring among non-white

patients and Medicaid recipients.

PMID: 19104932 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]