Hepatitis C virus core antigen as alternative diagnostic algorithm for active hepatitis C virus infection among haemodialysis population: Cost implications

Wong XZ 1 , Amirah A 2 , Gan CC 1 , Fatiha S 3 , Maznah D 4 , Yahya R 5 Show all authors , Ganapathy S 6 , Tan SS 7 , Mohamed R 1 , Lim SK 1

Affiliations 

  • 1 Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Jalan University, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
  • 2 Community Health Unit, Department of Primary Care, Faculty of Medicine and Health Science, University Sains Islam Malaysia, Nilai, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia
  • 3 Department of Clinical Pharmacy and Pharmacy Practice, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Malaya, Jalan University, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
  • 4 Centre of Population Health, Department of Social Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Jalan University, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
  • 5 Hospital Kuala Lumpur, Jalan Pahang, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
  • 6 National Institutes of Health, Ministry of Health, Kompleks Institut Kesihatan Negara (NIH), Setia Alam, Selangor, Malaysia
  • 7 Selayang Hospital, Batu Caves, Selangor, Malaysia
Nephrology (Carlton), 2021 May;26(5):463-470.
PMID: 33580732 DOI: 10.1111/nep.13862

Abstract

AIMS: In Malaysia, majority anti-HCV positive haemodialysis patients do not undergo hepatitis C confirmation due to the high cost of HCV RNA. HCV Core Antigen might be a cost-effective diagnostic test to identify HD patients who have active HCV infection eligible for Direct Acting Anti-viral therapy.

METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted to assess the correlation between HCV Ag and HCV RNA and the cost implications of different diagnostic algorithms to diagnose active HCV infection using Anti-HCV, HCV Ag, and HCV RNA. Pre-dialysis blood was tested for both HCV Ag and HCV RNA. HCV Ag was tested with Abbott ARCHITECT HCV Ag test.

RESULTS: Two-hundred twenty-seven haemodialysis patients were recruited from 20 centres with mean age of 57.68 ± 12.48 years, and male constitutes 56.8% (129) of the study population. HCV Ag correlated well with HCV RNA (Spearman test coefficient 0.943, p 

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

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