Translational Research of Telecare for the Treatment of Hepatitis C

Objective. Chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a serious health problem in Taiwan. The high dropout rate due to side effects limits the efficacy of treatment. The objective of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of telecare for the treatment of chronic hepatitis. Material and Met...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:BioMed research international 2014-01, Vol.2014 (2014), p.1-6
Main Authors: Hsu, Mei-Huang, Chiu, Wen-Ta, Wu, Ming-Shun, Tsai, Shin-Han, Chen, Wan-Lin
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Antiviral Agents - administration & dosage
Aspartate Aminotransferases - blood
Biomedical research
Care and treatment
Chronic illnesses
Clinical Study
Drug-Related Side Effects and Adverse Reactions - pathology
Female
Forecasts and trends
Health behavior
Hepacivirus - drug effects
Hepacivirus - pathogenicity
Hepatitis
Hepatitis C
Hepatitis C virus
Hepatitis C, Chronic - blood
Hepatitis C, Chronic - drug therapy
Hepatitis C, Chronic - virology
HIV
Human immunodeficiency virus
Humans
Interferon
Male
Medical research
Methods
Middle Aged
Patient safety
Physicians
Taiwan
Telemedicine
Translational Medical Research
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Summary:Objective. Chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a serious health problem in Taiwan. The high dropout rate due to side effects limits the efficacy of treatment. The objective of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of telecare for the treatment of chronic hepatitis. Material and Methods. Two hundred and ninety-eight patients randomly chose either of the two support programs. Group 1 was offered public health nurse consultation at outpatient clinic. Group 2 was offered telecare program with 24 hours of consultation services via a health communication center. All patients were treated with standard therapy and followed up for 72 weeks. Results. Normalization of serum biochemistry was noted in both Group 1 (150 patients) and Group 2 (148 patients). The most common types of side effect in both groups were influenza-like symptoms. Patient compliance was 88% (Group 1) and 94.6% (Group 2). Total dropout cases were 18 (12%) in Group 1 and 8 (5.4%) in Group 2. The program costs were 232,632 USD (Group 1) and 112,500 USD (Group 2). Conclusion. Telecare system with health care communication center model is significant in reducing dropout rate and is more effective with easy access.
ISSN:2314-6133
2314-6141
DOI:10.1155/2014/195097