Direct-acting antivirals in women of reproductive age infected with hepatitis C virus.

Eliminating hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in the population of women of reproductive age is important not only for the health of women themselves but also for the health of newborns. This study aimed to evaluate the implementation of this goal by analysing the effectiveness of contemporary therapy in a large cohort from everyday clinical practice along with identifying factors reducing therapeutic success. The analysed population consisted of 7861 patients, including 3388 women aged 15-49, treated in 2015-2022 in 26 hepatology centres. Data were collected retrospectively using a nationwide EpiTer-2 database. Females were significantly less often infected with HCV genotype 3 compared to males (11.2% vs. 15.7%) and less frequently showed comorbidities (40.5% vs. 44.2%) and comedications (37.2% vs. 45.2%). Hepatocellular carcinoma, liver transplantation, HIV and HBV coinfections were reported significantly less frequently in women. Regardless of the treatment type, females significantly more often reached sustained virologic response (98.8%) compared to males (96.8%). Regardless of gender, genotype 3 and cirrhosis were independent factors increasing the risk of treatment failure. Women more commonly reported adverse events, but death occurred significantly more frequently in men (0.3% vs. 0.1%), usually related to underlying advanced liver disease. We have demonstrated excellent effectiveness and safety profiles for treating HCV infection in women. This gives hope for the micro-elimination of HCV infections in women, translating into a reduced risk of severe disease in both women and their children.

Real-life effectiveness of antiviral therapy for HCV infection with pangenotypic regimens in HIV coinfected patients.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to evaluate the real-life efficacy of pangenotypic antivirals in HIV-HCV-positive patients. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: The analysis included 5650 subjects who were treated with pangenotypic anti-HCV drugs: 5142 were HCV-positive and 508 were HIV-HCV-positive. RESULTS: Patients with HCV-monoinfection were older (p < 0.0001), however patients with HCV-monoinfection had a higher proportion of advanced fibrosis F4 (p < 0.0001). There were no differences between the study groups in the rate of SVR12 in ITT-analysis (87,6% versus 93,9% in coinfection and monoinfection group, respectively; p > 0.05). However, there was a difference between study groups in PP-analysis, HIV/HCV and HCV, respectively 95.9% vs 97.9%, p = 0.0323. Additionally, there were a higher rate of patients who did not apply for follow-up (SVR12) in coinfected patients (7,9% vs 3,6% respectively p = 0.0001). In multivariante analysis, factors associated with worse response to the pangenotypic anti-HCV therapy included male sex, HCV genotype 3, stage of fibrosis and decompensation of liver function and HIV coinfection. CONCLUSIONS: The real-life results of pangenotypic anti-HCV treatment are veryeffective in the group of HIV-HCV-coinfected patients. However, the finaleffectiveness is slightly lower than that obtained in HCV monoinfectedpatients.