• Tommaso Stroffolini, Aldo Spadaro, Vincenzo Guadagnino, Stefano Cosentino, Filippo Fatuzzo, Antonio Galdieri, Bruno Cacopardo, Ignazio Scalisi, Mauro Sapienza, Maurizio Russello, Gaetano Scifo, Pierluigi Frugiuele, Giuseppe Foti, Piero Luigi Almasio, and Gr.E.Ca.S. Hospitals’ Collaborating Group.
• Department of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, Policlinico Umberto I, Rome, Italy. tommaso.stroffolini@iss.it
• Dig Liver Dis. 2010 Nov 1;42(11):822-5.

BackgroundOnly a small proportion of subjects referring to hospitals for hepatitis C virus (HCV) positivity receives antiviral therapy.AimTo evaluate the rate of antiviral treatment and the causes for no treatment in HCV-RNA positive subjects seen in hospital settings.Patients And MethodsA prospective study enrolling over a 6-month period (February-July 2009) all consecutive anti-HCV positive subjects initially referred (naïve patients) to 12 liver units in Southern Italy for HCV treatment.ResultsOut of 608 subjects evaluated, 74 (12.2%) had no detectable HCV-RNA in the serum and thus were excluded. Of the remaining 534 HCV-RNA positive subjects, 357 (66.9%) were not treated for the following reasons: 49.9% were older than 65 years of age (75% of them >70 years), 14.3% had normal liver enzymes, 13.2% had compensated/decompensated cirrhosis, 10.4% refused treatment, 9.8% had ongoing substance or alcohol abuse. Multivariate analysis showed that females (O.R. 2.27; C.I. 95% 1.05-4.90) and subjects with low educational level (O.R. 4.38; C.I. 95% 1.27-15.11) were more likely to decline therapy.ConclusionsThe majority of patients with HCV infection does not receive antiviral treatment. The effectiveness of the current standard therapy for HCV infection is low despite its good efficacy.Copyright © 2010 Editrice Gastroenterologica Italiana S.r.l. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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