Validation of EGCRISC for Chronic Hepatitis C Infection Screening and Risk Assessment in the Egyptian Population

• Published in: PloS one 2016-12, Vol.11 (12), p.e0168649-e0168649
• Main Authors: El-Ghitany, Engy Mohamed, Farghaly, Azza Galal, Farag, Shehata, Abd El-Wahab, Ekram Wassim
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Agreements; Analysis; Antibodies, Viral - analysis; Area Under Curve; Biology and life sciences; Blood diseases; Chronic infection; Cross-Sectional Studies; Demography; Diabetes; Diagnosis; Disease; Egypt - epidemiology; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; Epidemiology; Female; Health and safety screening; Health aspects; Health risk assessment; Health risks; Health screening; Hepacivirus - genetics; Hepacivirus - immunology; Hepacivirus - isolation & purification; Hepatitis; Hepatitis C; Hepatitis C virus; Hepatitis C, Chronic - diagnosis; Hepatitis C, Chronic - epidemiology; Homeless people; Humans; Infections; Male; Mass Screening - methods; Medical screening; Medicine and health sciences; Middle Aged; Odds Ratio; People and Places; Polymerase Chain Reaction; Prevalence; Primary care; Probability; Public health; Research and Analysis Methods; Risk Assessment; Risk factors; RNA, Viral - blood; RNA, Viral - metabolism; ROC Curve; Rural areas; Sample size; Social Sciences; Studies; Tests
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0168649

Chronic HCV infection, a highly endemic disease in Egypt, is usually asymptomatic for decades after infection. Prediction questionnaire tool was proofed to be a valuable, feasible and efficient instrument for the screening of several diseases. We previously developed an Egyptian HCV risk screening tool (EGCRISC). This study aims to validate/modify EGCRISC. A cross-sectional study testing 4579 individuals by EGCRISC as well as ELISA/PCR was performed. The sample was a stratified cluster sampling from urban and rural areas in Upper and Lower Egypt using a proportional allocation technique. The degree of agreement and positive and negative posttest probabilities were calculated. ROC curve was done and the cutoff points were customized for best performance. The total score was further classified into three levels according to the risk load. The mean age of the participants was 41.1±12.2 in whom HCV prevalence was 8.6%. EGCRISC, particularly after modifying the cutoff points, has a good discriminating ability. The degree of agreement was at least 68.1% and the positive posttest probability ranged from 5% to 37.2% whereas the negative posttest probability was in the range 1% to 17%. We conclude that EGCRISC is a valid tool that can potentially screen for HCV infection risk in Egypt and could diminish the demand for mass serologic screening in those apparently at minimal risk. Extensive use of electronic and self- or interviewer-administered risk-based screening strategy may simplify and promote overall screening and detection of HCV dissimilar communities.