Active intravenous drug use during chronic hepatitis C therapy does not reduce sustained virological response rates in adherent patients

Bruggmann, P.; Falcato, L.; Dober, S.; Helbling, B.; Keiser, O.; Negro, F.; Meili, D. (2008). Active intravenous drug use during chronic hepatitis C therapy does not reduce sustained virological response rates in adherent patients. Journal of viral hepatitis, 15(10), pp. 747-752. Blackwell Science 10.1111/j.1365-2893.2008.01010.x

[img] Text
Bruggmann JViralHepat 2008.pdf - Published Version
Restricted to registered users only
Available under License Publisher holds Copyright.

Download (125kB) | Request a copy

Reluctance has been expressed about treating chronic hepatitis C in active intravenous (IV) drug users (IDUs), and this is found in both international guidelines and routine clinical practice. However, the medical literature provides no evidence for an unequivocal treatment deferral of this risk group. We retrospectively analyzed the direct effect of IV drug use on treatment outcome in 500 chronic hepatitis C patients enrolled in the Swiss Hepatitis C Cohort Study. Patients were eligible for the study if they had their serum hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA tested 6 months after the end of treatment and at least one visit during the antiviral therapy, documenting the drug use status. Five hundred patients fulfilled the inclusion criteria (199 were IDU and 301 controls). A minimum exposure to 80% of the scheduled cumulative dose of antivirals was reached in 66.0% of IDU and 60.5% of controls (P = NS). The overall sustained virological response (SVR) rate was 63.6%. Active IDU reached a SVR of 69.3%, statistically not significantly different from controls (59.8%). A multivariate analysis for treatment success showed no significant negative influence of active IV drug use. In conclusion, our study shows no relevant direct influence of IV drugs on the efficacy of anti-HCV therapy among adherent patients.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

04 Faculty of Medicine > Pre-clinic Human Medicine > Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine (ISPM)

UniBE Contributor:

Keiser, Olivia

Subjects:

600 Technology > 610 Medicine & health
300 Social sciences, sociology & anthropology > 360 Social problems & social services

ISSN:

1352-0504

Publisher:

Blackwell Science

Language:

English

Submitter:

Doris Kopp Heim

Date Deposited:

01 Dec 2015 10:13

Last Modified:

05 Dec 2022 14:50

Publisher DOI:

10.1111/j.1365-2893.2008.01010.x

PubMed ID:

18637072

BORIS DOI:

10.7892/boris.73711

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/73711

Actions (login required)

Edit item Edit item
Provide Feedback