Hepatitis C virus (HCV) antibody prevalence may have increased in the US during 2013-2016, while RNA prevalence may have decreased, likely reflecting the combination of the opioid crisis, curative treatment for HCV infection, and mortality among the HCV-infected population. Researchers analyzed 2013-2016 data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) to estimate the prevalence of HCV in the noninstitutionalized civilian population. They found:

• During the study period, it was estimated that 1.7% of all adults in the US (~4.1 million persons) were HCV antibody-positive and 1.0% of all adults (~2.4 million), were HCV RNA-positive.
• This includes 3.7 million noninstitutionalized civilian adults in the US with HCV antibodies and 2.1 million with HCV RNA and an estimated 0.38 million HCV antibody-positive persons and 0.25 million HCV RNA-positive persons not part of the 2013-2016 NHANES sampling frame.
• The authors cited increasing capacity for and access to HCV testing, linkage to care, and cure as efforts needed to combat the evolving HCV epidemic in the US.