Curing HCV Yields Long-Term Improvement in Quality of Life

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Hepatitis C patients who attained sustained virologic response (SVR) with a direct-acting antiviral (DAA) drug maintained health improvements that enhanced their long-term quality of life, a new study shows.

Reaching SVR, considered a cure for chronic hepatitis C (HCV), has been associated with clinical benefits and short-term improvement in health-related quality of life (HRQL) scores. However, the sustainability of these improvements is unknown, the researchers said.

To gauge how long the health-related quality of life improvements last, Younossi, MD, MPH, FACP, FACG, AGAF, and his team assessed 3,486 HCV patients. These individuals had attained SVR in 12 weeks with a DAA regimen based on sofosbuvir (Sovaldi). The trials were sponsored by Gilead.

The researchers considered the subjects’ physical symptoms, such as pain, general health and vitality.

“By their 3-year follow-up, most subjects reached quality of life scores that were close to the population norms,” Younossi said.

The largest gains came in vitality and general health.