Author information

¹Center for Asian Health, Lewis Katz School of Medicine, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, USA. thoin.begum@temple.edu.

²Center for Asian Health, Lewis Katz School of Medicine, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, USA.

³Department of Urban Health and Population Science, Lewis Katz School of Medicine, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, USA.

⁴Nutrition Program, Hunter College, City University of New York, New York, NY, USA.

⁵Office of Community Outreach, Fox Chase Cancer Center, Temple University Health System, Philadelphia, PA, USA.

⁶Arthur Ashe Institute for Urban Health, New York City, NY, USA.

⁷Pennsylvania United Chinese Coalition, Philadelphia, PA, USA.

⁸Voces Latinas Corp, Jackson Heights, NY, USA.

Abstract

Deaths from liver cancer are on the rise and disproportionately affect minority racial/ethnic groups. In this study, we examined associations between physicians' recommendations for hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) screening and sociodemographic and lifestyle factors among minority populations in the areas of Greater Philadelphia and New York City. Using Poisson regression with robust variance estimation, we evaluated potential associations for 576 Hispanic American (HA), African American (AA), and Asian Pacific American (APA) adults, using blood tests as an outcome measure, with adjustment for sociodemographic factors We found that APAs (34.2%) were most likely to have a physician recommend HBV and HCV screening tests (34.2% and 27.1%, respectively), while HAs were least likely to receive an HBV recommendation (15.0%) and AAs were least likely to receive an HCV recommendation (15.3%). HAs were significantly likely to have never received a blood test for either HBV or HCV (RR = 1.25, 95% CI: 1.05, 1.49). APAs were significantly more likely to receive a screening recommendation for HBV (RR = 1.10, 95%CI: 1.01, 1.20) and to have a blood test (RR = 1.57, 95% CI: 1.06, 2.33). Our findings show that, among HAs, AAs, and APAs, physician recommendations are strongly associated with patients undergoing blood tests for HBV and HCV and that minority populations should increasingly be recommended to screen for HBV and HCV, especially given their elevated risk.