Quality of life of Brazilian chronic hepatitis C patients treated with interferon-free therapies.

Quality of life of Brazilian chronic hepatitis C patients treated with interferon-free therapies. Rev Inst Med Trop Sao Paulo. 2018 Nov 14;60:e72 Authors: Siqueira FM, Ferreira VL, Borba HHL, Pontarolo R Abstract Due to the severity of chronic hepatitis C, there are multiple factors that can negatively affect the quality of life of infected patients. The aim of this study was to evaluate changes in the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in patients under second-generation direct-acting antiviral (DAA) (interferon-free) therapies and to assess treatment effectiveness. This was an observational study conducted in Curitiba (Brazil) using two instruments (a generic and a specific) for measuring the quality of life in patients with chronic hepatitis C, the Short Form-36 (SF-36) and the Chronic Liver Disease Questionnaire (CLDQ) for liver disease evaluation. The study included patients receiving any interferon-free therapy for hepatitis C treatment during 2016 and 2017. Data were collected before, during, and after treatment regarding the two questionnaires, effectiveness and safety. Fifty-six patients fulfilled all eligibility criteria and were included for analysis. Sustained virological response was obtained in 88% of the patients. They were mainly genotype 1, cirrhotic and treated with sofosbuvir combined with daclatasvir or sofosbuvir with simeprevir. Improvement in the quality of life was observed for several domains in both ques...
Source: Revista do Instituto de Medicina Tropical de Sao Paulo - Category: Tropical Medicine Authors: Tags: Rev Inst Med Trop Sao Paulo Source Type: research