ArticleViruses2025
The Impact of COVID-19 and Related Public Health Measures on Hepatitis C Testing in Ontario, Canada.
Article in Viruses, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Gaps in the Hepatitis C Prenatal and Postpartum Care Cascade: Rationale for Treatment in Pregnancy.Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America · 2026Article
- HCV screening among surgical patients in a tertiary hospital of Northern China.BMC gastroenterology · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted progress towards global HCV elimination goals by interrupting essential health services in Canada and globally. We aimed to evaluate the effect of the pandemic on hepatitis C virus (HCV) testing rates in a population-based cohort study in Ontario using health administrative data. All residents with records of either HCV antibody or ribonucleic acid (RNA) tests were included. Monthly testing rate per 1000 population were compared during the pre-pandemic (01/01/2015-29/02/2020) and pandemic (01/03/2020-31/12/2022) periods using interrupted time series models, stratified by sex, homelessness, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and immigration status, and people who inject drugs (PWID). The HCV testing rate followed a statistically significant upward trend before the pandemic, dropping at its onset with 1.38/1000 fewer individuals initiating testing monthly. Compared to counterfactual estimates, the observed monthly number of people tested per 1000 population was lower by 1.41 (95% CI: 1.18-1.64) in 2020 (May-Dec), 1.17 (95% CI: 0.99-1.36) in 2021, and 1.41 (95% CI: 1.22-1.59) in 2022, corresponding to relative reductions of 47%, 34%, and 41%, respectively. Testing rates remained below expected levels across all subgroups throughout 2020-2022, with the greatest absolute declines observed among people co-infected with HIV, people experiencing homelessness, and PWID. Tailored, equity-focused interventions are needed to address these persistent gaps in HCV testing, without which Canada's progress toward its 2030 elimination targets remains at risk.
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Registered trials
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