Therapeutic Status Assessment of Patients with Hepatitis C. Arak. 2018-19

Today, with the introduction of the interferon-free direct acting antiviral (DDA) drug regimen, as well as the brilliant advances that have been made in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of hepatitis C, medical science has come closer to eradicating hepatitis C infection. Now the question is why, despite the existence of such very effective treatments that can even eradicate the infection, the infection is still stable in many patients and reduces the quality of life of many people, the death of many patients and also transmission to other people and thus its prevalence has increased in the community. Therefore, in this study, we aimed to examine the treatment status of patients with hepatitis C and also the therapeutic capacity of these patients in Arak city.

In this study, which is a descriptive-analytical study, people with chronic hepatitis C in Arak city in 2018-19, whose disease was confirmed, were included in the study. Then, the information of these patients was collected in a questionnaire that contained demographic information, risk factors, tests and treatment process of the patient, through the information obtained from the laboratory and also during a telephone interview. Finally, the collected data were analyzed using SPSS software version 24.

In this study, a total of 429 patients whose PCR or Elisa test were positive in the years 98-97. We were able to conduct a complete telephone interview with 152 patients and prepare a complete questionnaire for them, of which 96 had a positive PCR and 56 had a positive Elisa. After interviewing the first group, it was found that 70% of patients have completed treatment and 30% have not started treatment or left it incompletely. In the second group it was found that only 43% of the patients followed and completed the treatment, and 57% did not follow the treatment. The main reason for not pursuing treatment was lack of knowledge about the disease and then addiction and treatment costs, respectively.

The treatment process in PCR-positive patients was more favorable than in ELISA-positive patients. In the first group, lack of knowledge about the dangers of the disease and in the second group, lack of knowledge about the disease was the main reason for not treating these patients. Therefore, one of the ways to eradicate hepatitis C in the community is to provide adequate information to patients.