Screening high-risk Veterans for cirrhosis: taking a stepwise population health approach.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Because cirrhosis is often unrecognized, we aimed to develop a stepwise screening algorithm for cirrhosis in the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) and assess this approach's feasibility and acceptability.

Methods

VHA hepatology clinicians ("champions") were invited to participate in a pilot program from June 2020 to October 2022. The VHA Corporate Data Warehouse was queried to identify Veterans with possible undiagnosed cirrhosis using Fibrosis-4 (FIB-4) ≥ 3.25 and at least one risk factor for liver disease (e.g., obesity), and generate an age-stratified sample. Champions at four sites reviewed charts to confirm eligibility and contacted Veterans to offer further evaluation with elastography. Feasibility was defined as protocol implementation with completion of

SUBMITTER: Dounel J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11776120 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature