Martinez-Sanz et al reported a simple score to identify persons in the general population who should be screened for hepatitis C virus (HCV). The authors are from multiple institutions in Spain.
Parameters:
(1) sex
(2) racial origin
(3) intravenous illicit substance use ever
(4) possible exposure to HCV
(5) medical history
Parameter
Finding
Points
sex
male
1
female
0
racial origin
Eastern Europe
1
other
0
IV drug abuse
no
0
yes
3
possible HCV exposure
no
0
yes
1
medical history
hepatitis B or C
3
unexplained liver disease
3
other
0
where:
• Eastern Europe may be a risk factor restricted to Europe.
total score =
= SUM(points for all of the parameters)
Interpretation:
• minimum score: 0
• maximum score: 9
• A score >=3 had the highest Youden index with sensitivity 76% and specificity 89%.
• If sensitivity is preferred then a lower cut-off can be used.
Performance:
• The area under the ROC curve is reported as 0.90.
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