Effectiveness of SVR 12 in Hepatitis C Subjects Attending Tertiary Care Hospital in Lahore-Pakistan: an Observational Data

Abstract

Introduction: In Pakistan, for the patients of Hepatitis C virus (HCV), Direct-Acting Antiviral (DAA) therapy for 12 weeks and 24 weeks had been reported to be highly efficacious for genotype 3. We currently carried out an observational study to predict the rate of efficacy of sofosbuvir and ribavirin in hepatitis C patients to establish concrete or authentic data on this combination of DAA for long-term treatment.

Materials and Method: Among 2000 subjects who attended tertiary care unit in Lahore-Pakistan from November 2018 to February 2019, 1990 satisfied the criteria set for the present investigation i.e. SVR12 after being treated with sofosbuvir and ribavirin combination.

Results: It was noted that genotype 3a were more common among all the subjects under observation with 50.65 % (1008/1990) in females and 49.35% (982/1990) in males. Overall efficacy analysis was found to be 95.4% (1900/1990) in patients while the moderate response was noted in elderly subjects including both genders (61-90 years). DAA responders (male: female percentages) shown the following stats; 66.63 (42/66):36.36 (24/66) in 11-20 years, 56.6(240/424):43.39 (184/424) in 21-30 years and 44.73(272/608):55.27(336/608) in 31-40 years.

Conclusion: Collectively, this combinational drug therapy was observed to be successful among the Pakistani population. However, more comprehensive follow-up studies are needed on a larger pool of population nationwide to check only this combinational therapy (sofosbuvir and ribavirin) would be beneficial or not? Or next-generation DAA regimes would be the choice for the Pakistani population.