Impact of successful treatment with direct-acting antiviral agents on health-related quality of life in chronic hepatitis C patients

• Published in: PloS one 2018-10, Vol.13 (10), p.e0205277-e0205277
• Main Authors: Juanbeltz, Regina, Martínez-Baz, Iván, San Miguel, Ramón, Goñi-Esarte, Silvia, Cabasés, Juan Manuel, Castilla, Jesús
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Addictive behaviors; Adult; Antiviral agents; Antiviral Agents - therapeutic use; Antiviral drugs; Anxiety; Anxiety - diagnosis; Anxiety - epidemiology; Anxiety - psychology; Biology and life sciences; Chronic infection; Cirrhosis; Comorbidity; Cost analysis; Depression - diagnosis; Depression - epidemiology; Depression - psychology; Discomfort; Female; Fibrosis; Gastroenterology; Genotype & phenotype; Hepacivirus - drug effects; Hepacivirus - isolation & purification; Hepatitis; Hepatitis C; Hepatitis C, Chronic - drug therapy; Hepatitis C, Chronic - epidemiology; Hepatitis C, Chronic - psychology; Hepatitis C, Chronic - virology; HIV; HIV Infections - diagnosis; HIV Infections - epidemiology; HIV Infections - psychology; Human immunodeficiency virus; Humans; Infections; Interferon; Interviews; Liver; Liver cirrhosis; Liver diseases; Male; Medicine and health sciences; Mental depression; Middle Aged; Mobility; Pain; Pain - diagnosis; Pain - psychology; Patients; Pharmacy; Prospective Studies; Quality of Life; Research and Analysis Methods; Studies; Substance abuse treatment; Surveys and Questionnaires - statistics & numerical data; Sustained Virologic Response; Therapy; Variables; Visual Analog Scale
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0205277

Direct-acting antivirals (DAA) have demonstrated high efficacy to achieve sustained virological response (SVR) in chronic hepatitis C patients. We aim to assess the change in health-related quality of life (HRQoL) among patients successfully treated, and to identify predictors of this variation. In a prospective observational study, patients with chronic hepatitis C who started DAA therapy between May 2016 and April 2017 completed the EQ-5D-5L questionnaire at baseline and 12 weeks after the end of therapy before knowing the virological result. Analysis included all patients with SVR. Median baseline EQ-5D-5L scores of the 206 enrolled patients were 0.857 utility and 70.0 visual analogue scale (VAS). Following SVR, a reduction occurred in the proportion of patients with mobility problems (35% vs 24%, p = 0.012), pain/discomfort (60% vs 42%, p