• Harvey W Kaufman, Lara Bull-Otterson, William A Meyer, Xiaohua Huang, Mona Doshani, William W Thompson, Ademola Osinubi, Mohammed A Khan, Aaron M Harris, Neil Gupta, Michelle Van Handel, Carolyn Wester, Jonathan Mermin, and Noele P Nelson.
• Quest Diagnostics, Secaucus, New Jersey. Electronic address: harvey.w.kaufman@questdiagnostics.com.
• Am J Prev Med. 2021 Sep 1; 61 (3): 369376369-376.

IntroductionThe COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted healthcare services, reducing opportunities to conduct routine hepatitis C virus antibody screening, clinical care, and treatment. Therefore, people living with undiagnosed hepatitis C virus during the pandemic may later become identified at more advanced stages of the disease, leading to higher morbidity and mortality rates. Further, unidentified hepatitis C virus-infected individuals may continue to unknowingly transmit the virus to others.MethodsTo assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, data were evaluated from a large national reference clinical laboratory and from national estimates of dispensed prescriptions for hepatitis C virus treatment. Investigators estimated the average number of hepatitis C virus antibody tests, hepatitis C virus antibody-positive test results, and hepatitis C virus RNA-positive test results by month in January-July for 2018 and 2019, compared with the same months in 2020. To assess the impact of hepatitis C virus treatment, dispensed hepatitis C virus direct-acting antiretroviral medications were examined for the same time periods. Statistical analyses of trends were performed using negative binomial models.ResultsCompared with the 2018 and 2019 months, hepatitis C virus antibody testing volume decreased 59% during April 2020 and rebounded to a 6% reduction in July 2020. The number of hepatitis C virus RNA-positive results fell by 62% in March 2020 and remained 39% below the baseline by July 2020. For hepatitis C virus treatment, prescriptions decreased 43% in May, 37% in June, and 38% in July relative to the corresponding months in 2018 and 2019.ConclusionsDuring the COVID-19 pandemic, continued public health messaging, interventions and outreach programs to restore hepatitis C virus testing and treatment to prepandemic levels, and maintenance of public health efforts to eliminate hepatitis C infections remain important.Copyright © 2021 American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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