Developing and Piloting a Standardized European Protocol for Hepatitis C Prevalence Surveys in the General Population (2016–2019)
Background: A robust estimate of the number of people with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is essential for an appropriate public health response and for monitoring progress toward the WHO goal of eliminating viral hepatitis. Existing HCV prevalence studies in the European Union (EU)/Europ...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2021-05-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Public Health |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2021.568524/full |
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| author | Ida Sperle Ida Sperle Stine Nielsen Viviane Bremer Martyna Gassowski Henrikki Brummer-Korvenkontio Roberto Bruni Anna Rita Ciccaglione Elena Kaneva Kirsi Liitsola Zlatina Naneva Tanya Perchemlieva Enea Spada Salla E. Toikkanen Andrew J. Amato-Gauci Erika Duffell Ruth Zimmermann |
| author_facet | Ida Sperle Ida Sperle Stine Nielsen Viviane Bremer Martyna Gassowski Henrikki Brummer-Korvenkontio Roberto Bruni Anna Rita Ciccaglione Elena Kaneva Kirsi Liitsola Zlatina Naneva Tanya Perchemlieva Enea Spada Salla E. Toikkanen Andrew J. Amato-Gauci Erika Duffell Ruth Zimmermann |
| author_sort | Ida Sperle |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Background: A robust estimate of the number of people with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is essential for an appropriate public health response and for monitoring progress toward the WHO goal of eliminating viral hepatitis. Existing HCV prevalence studies in the European Union (EU)/European Economic Area (EEA) countries are heterogeneous and often of poor quality due to non-probability based sampling methods, small sample sizes and lack of standardization, leading to poor national representativeness. This project aimed to develop and pilot standardized protocols for undertaking nationally representative HCV prevalence surveys in the general adult population.Methods: From 2016 to 2019 a team from the Robert Koch-Institute contracted by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control synthesized evidence on existing HCV prevalence surveys and survey methodology and drafted a protocol. The methodological elements of the protocol were piloted and evaluated in Bulgaria, Finland and Italy, and lessons learnt from the pilots were integrated in the final protocol. An international multidisciplinary expert group was consulted regularly.Results: The protocol includes three alternative study approaches: a stand-alone survey; a “nested” survey within an existing health survey; and a retrospective testing survey approach. A decision algorithm advising which approach to use was developed. The protocol was piloted and finalized covering minimum and gold standards for all steps to be implemented from sampling, data protection and ethical issues, recruitment, specimen collection and laboratory testing options, staff training, data management and analysis and budget considerations. Through piloting, the survey approaches were effectively implemented to produce HCV prevalence estimates and the pilots highlighted the strengths and limitations of each approach and key lessons learnt were used to improve the protocol.Conclusions: An evidence-based protocol for undertaking HCV prevalence serosurveys in the general population reflecting the different needs, resources and epidemiological situations has been developed, effectively implemented and refined through piloting. This technical guidance supports EU/EEA countries in their efforts to estimate their national hepatitis C burden as part of monitoring progress toward the elimination targets. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-22T11:26:04Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-0418c71bf0034a5284fc61e1a3c261dd |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2296-2565 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-22T11:26:04Z |
| publishDate | 2021-05-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Public Health |
| spelling | doaj.art-0418c71bf0034a5284fc61e1a3c261dd2022-12-21T18:27:45ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Public Health2296-25652021-05-01910.3389/fpubh.2021.568524568524Developing and Piloting a Standardized European Protocol for Hepatitis C Prevalence Surveys in the General Population (2016–2019)Ida Sperle0Ida Sperle1Stine Nielsen2Viviane Bremer3Martyna Gassowski4Henrikki Brummer-Korvenkontio5Roberto Bruni6Anna Rita Ciccaglione7Elena Kaneva8Kirsi Liitsola9Zlatina Naneva10Tanya Perchemlieva11Enea Spada12Salla E. Toikkanen13Andrew J. Amato-Gauci14Erika Duffell15Ruth Zimmermann16Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Robert Koch Institute, Berlin, GermanyCharité, Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, GermanyIndependent consultant, Madrid, SpainDepartment of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Robert Koch Institute, Berlin, GermanyDepartment of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Robert Koch Institute, Berlin, GermanyDepartment of Health Security, Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, FinlandDepartment of Infectious Disease, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, ItalyDepartment of Infectious Disease, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, ItalyRegional Health Inspectorate, Stara Zagora, BulgariaDepartment of Health Security, Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, FinlandRegional Health Inspectorate, Stara Zagora, BulgariaRegional Health Inspectorate, Stara Zagora, BulgariaDepartment of Infectious Disease, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, ItalyDepartment of Health Security, Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, FinlandEuropean Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, Stockholm, SwedenEuropean Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, Stockholm, SwedenDepartment of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Robert Koch Institute, Berlin, GermanyBackground: A robust estimate of the number of people with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is essential for an appropriate public health response and for monitoring progress toward the WHO goal of eliminating viral hepatitis. Existing HCV prevalence studies in the European Union (EU)/European Economic Area (EEA) countries are heterogeneous and often of poor quality due to non-probability based sampling methods, small sample sizes and lack of standardization, leading to poor national representativeness. This project aimed to develop and pilot standardized protocols for undertaking nationally representative HCV prevalence surveys in the general adult population.Methods: From 2016 to 2019 a team from the Robert Koch-Institute contracted by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control synthesized evidence on existing HCV prevalence surveys and survey methodology and drafted a protocol. The methodological elements of the protocol were piloted and evaluated in Bulgaria, Finland and Italy, and lessons learnt from the pilots were integrated in the final protocol. An international multidisciplinary expert group was consulted regularly.Results: The protocol includes three alternative study approaches: a stand-alone survey; a “nested” survey within an existing health survey; and a retrospective testing survey approach. A decision algorithm advising which approach to use was developed. The protocol was piloted and finalized covering minimum and gold standards for all steps to be implemented from sampling, data protection and ethical issues, recruitment, specimen collection and laboratory testing options, staff training, data management and analysis and budget considerations. Through piloting, the survey approaches were effectively implemented to produce HCV prevalence estimates and the pilots highlighted the strengths and limitations of each approach and key lessons learnt were used to improve the protocol.Conclusions: An evidence-based protocol for undertaking HCV prevalence serosurveys in the general population reflecting the different needs, resources and epidemiological situations has been developed, effectively implemented and refined through piloting. This technical guidance supports EU/EEA countries in their efforts to estimate their national hepatitis C burden as part of monitoring progress toward the elimination targets.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2021.568524/fullhepatitis CHCVgeneral populationprevalencetechnical protocolsurveys |
| spellingShingle | Ida Sperle Ida Sperle Stine Nielsen Viviane Bremer Martyna Gassowski Henrikki Brummer-Korvenkontio Roberto Bruni Anna Rita Ciccaglione Elena Kaneva Kirsi Liitsola Zlatina Naneva Tanya Perchemlieva Enea Spada Salla E. Toikkanen Andrew J. Amato-Gauci Erika Duffell Ruth Zimmermann Developing and Piloting a Standardized European Protocol for Hepatitis C Prevalence Surveys in the General Population (2016–2019) Frontiers in Public Health hepatitis C HCV general population prevalence technical protocol surveys |
| title | Developing and Piloting a Standardized European Protocol for Hepatitis C Prevalence Surveys in the General Population (2016–2019) |
| title_full | Developing and Piloting a Standardized European Protocol for Hepatitis C Prevalence Surveys in the General Population (2016–2019) |
| title_fullStr | Developing and Piloting a Standardized European Protocol for Hepatitis C Prevalence Surveys in the General Population (2016–2019) |
| title_full_unstemmed | Developing and Piloting a Standardized European Protocol for Hepatitis C Prevalence Surveys in the General Population (2016–2019) |
| title_short | Developing and Piloting a Standardized European Protocol for Hepatitis C Prevalence Surveys in the General Population (2016–2019) |
| title_sort | developing and piloting a standardized european protocol for hepatitis c prevalence surveys in the general population 2016 2019 |
| topic | hepatitis C HCV general population prevalence technical protocol surveys |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2021.568524/full |
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