Author information
1
Center for Liver Diseases, Department of Medicine, Inova Fairfax Hospital, Falls Church, VA, USA.
2
Betty and Guy Beatty Center for Integrated Research, Inova Health System, Falls Church, VA, USA.
3
Center for Outcomes Research in Liver Disease, Washington, DC, USA.
4
Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea.
5
Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea.
6
Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
7
National Taiwan University College of Medicine and Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
8
National Hospital of Tropical Diseases, Hanoi, Vietnam.
9
Queen Mary Hospital, Hong Kong, China.
10
Institute of Digestive Disease, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
11
Peking University People's Hospital, Beijing, China.
Abstract
BACKGROUND/AIM:
Interferon (IFN)-based regimens cause significant impairment of health-related quality of life (HRQL). HCV cure with IFN-free regimens improves HRQL. The effect of these regimens on HRQL in East Asian HCV patients is unclear due to lack of easy access.
AIM:
To assess HRQL in East Asian HCV patients treated with IFN-free regimen with sofosbuvir+ribavirin.
METHODS:
Patients completed Short Form-36 (SF-36) before, during and after treatment.
RESULTS:
686 subjects were included [China: 56.7%, S. Korea: 18.8%, Taiwan: 12.7%, genotype 2: 40.8%, genotype 1: 29.6%, genotype 3: 18.4%, genotype 6: 11.2%; cirrhosis: 13.4%, treatment-naïve: 66.5%]. Patients either received pegylated-IFN, sofosbuvir, and ribavirin (IFN+SOF+RBV) for 12 weeks (n=155, genotypes 1 and 6) or SOF+RBV for 12-24 weeks (n=531, all genotypes). The SVR-12 rates was 95.5% and 96.0%; respectively (p=0.76). Baseline HRQL scores were similar between treatment groups (all p>0.05). By end of treatment, IFN-treated group experienced significant declines in most HRQL scores (on average, by up to -13.3 points on a 0-100 scale from the baseline level, p<0.02) while subjects on SOF/RBV had milder impairments (up to -5.4 points). Achieving SVR-12 was associated with HRQL improvement regardless of regimen (up to +2.9 points, p<0.05). The use of IFN-free treatment was a consistent independent predictor of higher HRQL scores during treatment (β: +2.1 to +10.7 points, p<0.02).
CONCLUSIONS:
East Asian HCV patients treated with an IFN-free regimen had better on-treatment HRQL scores. These data should inform policy makers about the comprehensive benefits of IFN-free regimens in East Asian patients with HCV.