{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,1]],"date-time":"2026-06-01T12:20:09Z","timestamp":1780316409630,"version":"3.54.1"},"reference-count":24,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2020,11,11]],"date-time":"2020-11-11T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1605052800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Infectious Disease Reports"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Late presentation to care is the major obstacle to receiving treatment for chronic hepatitis C (CHC). Our aim was to analyze the prevalence and trends of late presenters (LP) at first consultations in Croatia during a 10-year period. This retrospective cross-sectional study included all adult CHC patients (n = 854) entering specialist medical care at the University Hospital for Infectious Diseases Zagreb between 2009 and 2018. LP was defined as liver stiffness measurement \u2265 9.5 kPa or biopsy METAVIR F \u2265 3. During the study period, mean patients\u2019 age increased from 37 to 52 years while HCV genotype distribution changed leading to the replacement of genotype 1b with 1a (g1b 32% to 21%; g1a 19% to 38%). A total of 320 (37.4%) were LP; they were older (47.5, IQR 40.5\u201357.6), and more commonly infected with g1b (34.1%) and g3 (42.5%). The prevalence of LP significantly increased from 31.9% in 2009 to 46.5% in 2018. Late presentation for care of CHC is increasing in Croatia suggesting a gap of diagnosing strategies in patients over 50 years.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/idr12030016","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,11,11]],"date-time":"2020-11-11T20:20:33Z","timestamp":1605126033000},"page":"74-81","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":6,"title":["Trends of Late Presentation to Care in Patients with Chronic Hepatitis C during a 10-Year Period in Croatia"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"12","author":[{"given":"Neven","family":"Papic","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Viral Hepatitis, University Hospital for Infectious Diseases, 10 000 Zagreb, Croatia"},{"name":"School of Medicine, University of Zagreb, 10 000 Zagreb, Croatia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Leona","family":"Radmanic","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Immunological and Molecular Diagnostics, University Hospital for Infectious Diseases, Mirogojska 8, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Davorka","family":"Dusek","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Viral Hepatitis, University Hospital for Infectious Diseases, 10 000 Zagreb, Croatia"},{"name":"School of Medicine, University of Zagreb, 10 000 Zagreb, Croatia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ivan","family":"Kurelac","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Viral Hepatitis, University Hospital for Infectious Diseases, 10 000 Zagreb, Croatia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Snjezana","family":"Zidovec Lepej","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Immunological and Molecular Diagnostics, University Hospital for Infectious Diseases, Mirogojska 8, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Adriana","family":"Vince","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Viral Hepatitis, University Hospital for Infectious Diseases, 10 000 Zagreb, Croatia"},{"name":"School of Medicine, University of Zagreb, 10 000 Zagreb, Croatia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,11,11]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"8","DOI":"10.1111\/jvh.12762","article-title":"Historical epidemiology of hepatitis C virus in select countries-volume 4","volume":"24","author":"Maaroufi","year":"2017","journal-title":"J. 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