Hepatitis C Prevalence and Responses to Pegylated Interferon + Ribavirin Treatment Among Prisoners
Journal Title: Viral Hepatitis Journal - Year 2017, Vol 23, Issue 3
Abstract
Objective: The aim of our study was to identify the hepatitis C prevalence in prisoners and to share experiences of pegylated interferon (peg-IFN) + ribavirin (RBV) treatment. Materials and Methods: The study was conducted by assessing the records of prisoners between January 2014 and 2016, retrospectively. Patients in whom planned treatments were applied in a given time were determined and, virologic responses at the end of treatment and 6 months after treatment were evaluated. Chi-square test was used and a p value of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: Among prisoners, the anti-hepatitis C virus (HCV) positivity rate was 7.82% and HCV-RNA positivity rate was 5.72%. The most common genotype was genotype 3a (66 of 99 patients). End-of-treatment and 6th month sustained virologic response rates were 84.6% and 80.5%, respectively. In genotype 3a group, end-of-treatment and 6th month sustained virologic response rates were found to be higher than other genotypes but not statistically significant. Conclusion: In our study, which assessed prisoners, the rate of HCV positivity was higher than hepatitis C in the general population in Turkey. In accordance with the literature, genotype 3 was the most common genotype among prisoners. Sustained virologic response rates obtained with peg-IFN+RBV treatment suggested that peg-IFN treatment should be used with current treatment combinations in prisoners infected with HCV genotype 3.
Authors and Affiliations
Hasan Selçuk ÖZGER, Ömer KARAŞAHİN, Mehmet Armağan TOY, Sibel İBA YILMAZ, Kenan HIZEL
Keywords
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- EP ID EP268759
- DOI 10.4274/vhd.0007
- Views 45
- Downloads 0
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