Too Few Baby Boomers Get Hepatitis C Screening

“Schedule your Hepatitis C screening today.”

— Dr. P

https://www.webmd.com/hepatitis/news/20180329/too-few-baby-boomers-get-hepatitis-c-screening#1

By Robert Preidt

HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, March 29, 2018 (HealthDay News) -- Despite recommendations, only about one in 10 U.S. baby boomers has been screened for hepatitis C virus (HCV), a new study reveals.

Hepatitis C is a contagious virus that causes nearly half of the cases of liver cancer in the United States. Health officials estimate that about one in 30 Americans born between 1945 and 1965 (the baby boom generation) has chronic HCV infection.

But most don't know it.

"Hepatitis C is an interesting virus because people who develop a chronic infection remain asymptomatic for decades and don't know they're infected," said study lead author Monica Kasting.

"Most of the baby boomers who screen positive for HCV infection were infected over 30 years ago, before the virus was identified," added Kasting, a postdoctoral fellow at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Fla.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommend that baby boomers get a blood test to screen for HCV.

But when Kasting and colleagues analyzed federal government data, they found that HCV screening rates among baby boomers ranged from 11.9 percent in 2013 to 12.8 percent in 2015.

The study findings were published in the March 27 issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.

Women were less likely to have been screened than men. The researchers also found that among baby boomers and Americans born between 1966 and 1985, HCV screening rates were lower among Hispanics and blacks.

"This is concerning because these groups have higher rates of HCV infection and higher rates of advanced liver disease," Kasting said in a journal news release.

"This may reflect a potential health disparity in access to screening, and therefore treatment, for a highly curable infection," she added.

The most important study finding is that the HCV screening rate isn't increasing in a meaningful way, said Anna Giuliano, who founded Moffitt's Center for Infection Research in Cancer. "Between 2013 and 2015, HCV screening only increased by 0.9 percent in the baby boomer population," she pointed out.

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Study Confirms Lifesaving Value of Colonoscopy

“As a reminder, if you’re age 50 or older, it’s important to get screened for colorectal cancer. Call us to scheudle your next Colonoscopy. ”

— Dr. P

https://www.webmd.com/colorectal-cancer/news/20180314/study-confirms-lifesaving-value-of-colonoscopy

By Alan Mozes

HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, March 14, 2018 (HealthDay News) -- A large study has confirmed what many public health experts have long believed: Colonoscopy saves lives.

The study looked at roughly 25,000 patients in the Veterans Affairs (VA) health system, where colonoscopy is widely used. The VA views it as the main screening test for patients aged 50 and older who have average odds for developing colon or rectal cancer.

Of that group, close to 20,000 patients were cancer-free between 2002 and 2008. About 5,000 were diagnosed with colorectal cancer during that time and died of the disease by 2010.

Those who died were significantly less likely to have had a colonoscopy, the study found.

A comparison of screening histories over about two decades found that "colonoscopy was associated with a 61 percent reduction in colorectal cancer mortality," said study author Dr. Charles Kahi.

Kahi is gastroenterology section chief with the Roudebush VA Medical Center in Indianapolis.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends everyone between the ages of 50 and 75 get screened for colon cancer. Those at high risk -- including those with a family history of the disease -- should be tested even earlier, the CDC advises.

Screening can take several forms, including stool tests; a lower colon exam called flexible sigmoidoscopy; and even a "virtual" colonoscopy that relies on X-rays to scan the entire colon.

But many public health advocates favor a full colon exam, or colonoscopy. For the test, a patient is typically sedated and a doctor inserts a flexible, lighted tube to examine the entire colon. If found, growths called polyps can be removed during the procedure.

Between 11.5 million and 14 million Americans have a colonoscopy each year, according to the study team.

The new study focused on patients aged 50 and older who were treated at VA facilities between 1997 and 2010.

The investigators found that a colonoscopy reduced the risk of death from right-sided colorectal cancer by 46 percent and left-sided cancer by 72 percent, equaling a combined drop of 61 percent.