Incidence of Undiagnosed Hepatitis C Infection in an Urban Hospital

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that there are approximately 3.2 million people in the United States infected with hepatitis C and a significant percentage of these patients are unaware of their diagnosis. This study will attempt to determine the point prevalence of undiagnosed hepatitis C infection in an urban hospital population. All patients admitted to the hospital on two separate days will have hepatitis C testing done on leftover serum and plasma that was collected as part of routine inpatient lab work. Our primary goal is to determine the number of undiagnosed hepatitis C infected patients in our hospitalized population. We will also compare these rates to specific demographic characteristics, such as age, race, gender, zip code and type of insurance to see if any associations exist between these demographics and undiagnosed hepatitis C infection.