[Reporting chronic hepatitis B and C in Denmark]

It became mandatory to report cases of chronic hepatitis B and C in Denmark in May 2002. The "treating doctor" is obliged to make the report. The purpose of this study is to find out how many patients with chronic hepatitis B or C who are monitored in the Danish health care system are reported to the State Serum Institute (SSI) and to find out who makes the report and from these numbers to estimate the total number of patients in Denmark with chronic hepatitis B and C.

Patients with chronic hepatitis B or C who were reported to the SSI before June 20th 2006 were cross-referenced with patients included in the Danish Database of Hepatitis B and C (DANHEP) on the basis of their social security number.

The study found that only 50% of patients monitored at Danish hospitals with chronic hepatitis B or C are registered with the SSI. Respectively 47% and 38% of these were registered by their general practitioner, a few percent by a doctor whose place of employment is not registered, and the rest by doctors working at hospitals.

This study demonstrates that the reporting of patients with chronic hepatitis B and C in Denmark is considerably inadequate. It is important that general practitioners as well as doctors working at hospitals are aware of their duty to report these diseases. An optimal reporting rate could be achieved by making it mandatory to notify the laboratory diagnosis of chronic hepatitis B and C as well as establishing an electronic reporting system, where data from laboratories are cross-referenced with clinical and epidemiological data.