EFFECTIVENESS OF DIAGNOSTICS AND ROUTINE FOLLOW-UP MONITORING IN CHRONIC HEPATITIS C

Background. The emergence of new antiviral drugs has made it possible to eliminate the virus in more than 95% of patients with chronic hepatitis C. Improving diagnostics in primary health care aimed at the earliest possible detection of the disease is of primary importance in such a situation. Objective. To analyze the effectiveness of diagnostics and routine follow-up monitoring of patients with chronic hepatitis C in the Vitebsk region. Material and methods. We conducted a retrospective analysis of the incidence of HCV infection in the Vitebsk region during 2009-2020. We performed a comparative evaluation of ELISA and ICA/ICT techniques for the detection of HCV antibody. Results. It was found out that during the analyzed period there was a significant decrease in the incidence of various forms of HCV infection, accompanied by an increase in the proportion of chronic hepatitis C and a sharp decrease in the proportion of anti-HCV carriers, that can be regarded as a direct result of information campaigns designed for primary care providers. There were differences in the structure of HCV infection in various parts of the Vitebsk region. Rapid anti-HCV immunochromatography test showed equal effectiveness with a diagnostic sensitivity of 93.75% (CI = 69.9-99.8) and a specificity of 100% (CI = 82.4-100%) (AUC=0.969, p<0.0001) compared with ELISA. Conclusions. The nosological structure of HCV infection has significant differences in various parts of the Vitebsk region that can be related to diagnostics availability and quality. The use of ICA/ICT for anti-HCV detection during screening is regarded to be more commercially available and economically feasible.