Few U.S. patients with hepatitis C get timely treatment, CDC says

By Mrinalika Roy

Aug 9 (Reuters) - Few U.S. adults diagnosed with hepatitis C virus infections receive timely treatment with antiviral drugs, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Tuesday.

The drugs cure hepatitis C in more than 95% of patients, but a study of more than 47,000 adults diagnosed in 2019 or 2020 found that only one-third of those with private insurance and one-quarter of Medicaid and Medicare recipients got one of these drugs within a year, according to a report in the CDC's Vital Signs.

Treatment rates were lowest among patients in state-administered health plans, with only 23% of Medicaid recipients and 28% of Medicare recipients receiving the drugs within a year of diagnosis, the study showed. That rate was only 35% among patients with private insurance. (Reporting by Mrinalika Roy in Bengaluru; editing by Nancy Lapid and Lisa Shumaker)