Abstract
We looked into the current status of the hepatitis virus screening (hereinafter called “hepatitis testing”) conducted at our facility in compliance with the elderly health law, which is enforced since 2002. More hepatitis testings have been conducted for the elderly, women, housewives, and agricultural workers than complete medical checkups.
Results of the hepatitis testing showed the following: 3.6% had HCV antibody prevalence, 1.8% were (persistently infected) HCV carriers, and 1.4% were HBs-antigen-positive. The ALT values in the HCV-positive subjects were significantly lower than in those who underwent complete medical checkups. While hepatitis testing is able to specifically pick up those who cannot be identified as HCV carriers if subjected only to liver function testing as part of the basic health checkup for residents (hereinafter called “resident health check”), various problems have come to our attention, including the fact that there are local areas where positively identified subjects are more frequently reported, and that the consultation rate at the occasional checkup (conducted every five years for each person) was only about 35%.
We consider that measures such as post-secondary complete checkups will be necessary in the future.
