Poor response to direct-acting antiviral therapy in HCV-infected elderly population: a real-life cohort study based on GeneXpert® technology. (July 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Wahid, Braira; Waqar, Muhammad; Saleem, Komal; Shafi, Faiza; Rehman, Zobaria; Hanif, Iqra; Ahmad, Hafiza Maleeha; Wasim, Muhammad; Sajjad, ; Wahid, Khansa; Idrees, Muhammad
• Is Part Of: Future virology. Volume 13:Number 7(2018)
• Page Start: 467
• Page End: 474
• Publication Date: 2018-07
• Subjects: DAA drug -- elderly population -- HCV -- Pakistan -- GCMBDR -- treatment response; Virology -- Periodicals; Virus diseases -- Treatment -- Periodicals; 616.9101
• DOI: 10.2217/fvl-2017-0158
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1746-0794

Abstract

Aim: This study aimed to determine the efficacy of direct-acting antiviral drugs in different ethnicities and elderly population of Pakistan.Methods: We used GeneXpert ® technology to quantify HCV RNA and evaluated treatment response in different cohorts that included HCV patients classified on the basis of their age-group and ethnicity.Results: The findings of our study suggest that 76% of nonresponder patients were older than 55 years of age which shows that age is the predictor of treatment outcome of direct-acting antiviral drugs. In addition to this, no differences were observed in overall efficacy by ethnicity.Conclusion: Treatment-regimen sofosbuvir+ribavirin has a limited effect on older patients; therefore, practitioners and healthcare professionals need to reconsider treatment options for elderly populations.