Talk to the Veterans Crisis Line now
U.S. flag
An official website of the United States government

VA Health Systems Research

Go to the VA ORD website
Go to the QUERI website

HSR Citation Abstract

Search | Search by Center | Search by Source | Keywords in Title

Race and Gender Differences in the Use of Direct Acting Antiviral Agents for Hepatitis C Virus.

Kanwal F, Kramer JR, El-Serag HB, Frayne S, Clark J, Cao Y, Taylor T, Smith D, White D, Asch SM. Race and Gender Differences in the Use of Direct Acting Antiviral Agents for Hepatitis C Virus. Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. 2016 Aug 1; 63(3):291-9.

Related HSR&D Project(s)

Dimensions for VA is a web-based tool available to VA staff that enables detailed searches of published research and research projects.

If you have VA-Intranet access, click here for more information vaww.hsrd.research.va.gov/dimensions/

VA staff not currently on the VA network can access Dimensions by registering for an account using their VA email address.
   Search Dimensions for VA for this citation
* Don't have VA-internal network access or a VA email address? Try searching the free-to-the-public version of Dimensions



Abstract:

BACKGROUND: Direct acting antiviral agents (DAA) are highly effective yet expensive. Disparities by race and/or gender often exist in the use of costly medical advances as they become available. METHODS: We examined a cohort of hepatitis C virus (HCV) patients who received care at the Veterans Administration facilities nationwide. We evaluated the effect of race and gender on DAA receipt after adjusting for socioeconomic status, liver disease severity, comorbidity, and propensity for healthcare use. To determine if disparities had changed over time, we conducted a similar analysis of HCV patients who were seen in the previous standard of care treatment era. RESULTS: Of the 145 596 patients seen in the current DAA era, 17 791 (10.2%) received treatment during the first 16 months of DAA approval. Black patients had 21% lower odds of receiving DAA than whites (odds ratio [OR] = 0.79; 95% confidence interval [CI], .75, .84). Overall, women were as likely to receive treatment as men (OR = 0.99; 95% CI, .90-1.09). However, the odds of receiving DAAs were 29% lower for younger women compared with younger men (OR = 0.71, 95% CI, .54-.93). Similar to the DAA cohort, black patients had significantly lower odds of receiving treatment than whites (OR = 0.74, 95% CI, .69-.79) in the previous treatment era. The racial difference between the 2 eras did not reach statistical significance. CONCLUSIONS: There were unexplained differences among HCV population subgroups in the receipt of new DAA treatment. Targeted interventions are needed for black patients and younger women.





Questions about the HSR website? Email the Web Team

Any health information on this website is strictly for informational purposes and is not intended as medical advice. It should not be used to diagnose or treat any condition.