Grant: Operating Grant - PA: Regional Partnership Program : Manitoba

Hepatitis C generated intensive scientific, clinical and public interest during the past two decades, since the virus was first described by Choo and colleagues in 1989. It is estimated that 170 million people are infected worldwide, and 3 to 4 million persons are newly infected each year. In Canada, and estimated 275,000 are chronically infected with HCV virus. Thus, chronic hepatitis C (CHC) remains a significant health and economic problem in Canada. Yet population-based data regarding HCV incidence rates, prevalence, and patterns of health care use within North America are limited. A Comprehensive Hepatitis C Research Database (CHCRD) had been developed by the applicant by linking records from multiple administrative and public health sources and all HCV-positive residents of the Canadian province of Manitoba were identified during a twelve year period (1991-2002). To date, important data on the prevalence, natural history and health care utilization have been generated from five clinical and administrative databases. The present proposal represents a continuation of this effort wherein the time trends in the incidence rates and prevalence of newly diagnosed HCV infection during two decades since 1991 (the time when laboratory testing for HCV infections became first available) to 2012 will be documented and the epidemiology of CHC on a population level will be further clarified. Furthermore, the outcome of CHC infection and the rates of progression to end-stage liver disease and HCC will be calculated, health care utilization examined, and the observed data will be the basis for the forecast of future health care use.