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U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion

Increase the proportion of people who no longer have hepatitis C — IID‑14 Data Methodology and Measurement

On this page:  About the National Data  |  Methodology  |  History

About the National Data

Data

Data Source:  National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), CDC/NCHS

Baseline: 42.5 percent of persons who were ever infected with hepatitis C had cleared the infection in 2013-16

Target: 80.0 percent

Numerator
Number of persons aged 6 years and over who were interviewed (self, parent or caregiver), and provided a blood sample which tested negative for hepatitis C ribonucleic acid (RNA), indicating viral clearance of a previous infection at the time of the NHANES examination.
Denominator
Number of persons aged 6 years and over who were interviewed (self, parent or caregiver), and provided a blood sample which tested positive for hepatitis C antibody, indicating a current or past hepatitis C infection at the time of the NHANES examination.
Target-setting method
Maintain consistency with national programs, regulations, policies, or laws
Target-setting method justification
The target was selected to align with the 2030 target presented in the Viral Hepatitis National Strategic Plan (VH-NSP) for the indicator "Increase proportion of people who have cleared hepatitis C infection to 58% by 2025 and 80% by 2030." The Indicators subcommittee of the VH-NSP, in consultation with HHS leadership, set quantitative targets to eliminate viral hepatitis as a public health threat by 2030, in alignment with WHO Global Health Sector Strategy on Viral Hepatitis 2016-2021 and the US National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine A National Strategy for the Elimination of Hepatitis B and C.

Methodology

Methodology notes

Beginning in 2013 and continuing through 2016, all NHANES participants aged 6 years and older (or their parents or caregivers) were asked at the home interview survey, before the NHANES blood test for hepatitis C, if they had ever been told that they had hepatitis C. Following the home interview, blood was drawn during the examination component of the survey and subsequently tested for hepatitis C antibody and RNA at the CDC Division of Viral Hepatitis laboratory. Due to small sample sizes and instability of estimates for hepatitis C, multiple NHANES samples must be aggregated. Aggregate estimates for 2013-2016 are weighted using the NHANES survey weights. Rolling estimates will be used (e.g., second data point will be for 2015-2018 NHANES surveys) for future data points. The estimates are considered representative of the US civilian non-institutional household population. NHANES estimates have been critiqued for use in estimating prevalence of viral hepatitis in the United States because the sampling frame omits by design, or may under-represent, certain populations expected to have higher prevalence of hepatitis C, such as persons living in correctional facilities or experiencing homelessness (Holmberg 2013, Edlin 2015).

History

Comparable HP2020 objective
Modified, which includes core objectives that are continuing from Healthy People 2020 but underwent a change in measurement.
Changes between HP2020 and HP2030
This objective differs from Healthy People 2020 objective IID-27 in that objective IID-27 used a 6-year unweighted average of NHANES data for persons of all ages, while this objective uses a 4-year weighted average of NHANES data for persons aged 6 years and over.
Revision History
Revised. 

In 2021, revisions were made to this objective to align with the Viral Hepatitis National Strategic Plan (VH-NSP). The objective statement was revised to track persons who have cleared hepatitis C infection instead of persons who were aware they had chronic hepatitis C. The baseline was changed from 55.6 percent to 42.5 percent. The target-setting method was changed from "minimal statistical significance" to "maintain consistency with national programs, regulations, policies or laws." The target was revised from 74.2 percent to 80.0 percent.