Author information
1 Center for Innovations in Quality, Effectiveness and Safety, Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Houston, TX, USA; Section of Health Services Research, Department of Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA.
2 Merck & Co., Inc., Kenilworth, NJ, USA.
3 Center for Innovations in Quality, Effectiveness and Safety, Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Houston, TX, USA; Section of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Department of Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA.
4 Center for Innovations in Quality, Effectiveness and Safety, Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Houston, TX, USA; Section of Health Services Research, Department of Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA. Electronic address: jkramer@bcm.edu.
Abstract
BACKGROUND & AIMS: Randomized controlled trials of EBR/GZR have reported high treatment efficacy, safety and tolerability in patients undergoing dialysis. However, real world effectiveness data for EBR/GZR in this population is lacking. We evaluated the effectiveness of EBR/GZR in an HCV-infected population with all stages of CKD including dialysis compared with control patients with estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) ≥60 in the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).
METHODS: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of patients with chronic HCV genotype 1 infection with EBR/GZR prescriptions dispensed during February 1, 2016-August 31, 2017 in 128 VA Medical Centers. We collected patient information regarding history of dialysis, end stage renal disease (ESRD), and/or eGFR values. We measured SVR based on undetectable HCV RNA at least 4 weeks after the completion of treatment. We examined SVR rates by CKD stage compared to control patients and within patient subgroups using logistic regression models.
RESULTS: We identified 5961 patients (42.5% genotype 1a, 55.0% genotype 1b) who met eligibility criteria and completed a EBR/GZR treatment course (≥11 weeks). Approximately 73.2% (n = 4361) had eGFR ≥60 who served as control patients, 14.4% (n = 860) had Stage 3 CKD, and 12.4% (n = 740) had Stage 4-5 CKD or ESRD. Of patients with Stage 4-5 CKD/ESRD, 76.1% underwent dialysis (n = 563). The overall SVR was 96.7% in all patients, 96.4% for eGFR≥60, 98.3% in Stage 3 CKD, and 96.5% in Stage 4-5 CKD/ESRD. No statistically significant differences were found in the SVR rates in patients with or without dialysis in the Stage 4-5 CKD/ESRD patients (adjusted OR 0.91; 95% CI 0.56-1.47 and OR 1.74; 95% CI 0.63-4.81) compared with those with eGFR≥60.
CONCLUSION: We found EBR/GZR was effective in patients with HCV GT1 infection regardless of CKD severity or receipt of dialysis in the US VA population.