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Multidisciplinary program bested traditional method in HCV treatment
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Implementation of a multidisciplinary support program for hepatitis C antiviral treatment improved compliance, increased efficiency and lowered costs when compared with a conventional approach, according to new findings presented at The Liver Meeting, the 2011 Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases.
Compared with controls, patients who received multidisciplinary support had higher treatment compliance rates (78.9% vs. 94.6%; P=.0001); higher sustained virological response rates for all genotypes (61.9% vs. 77.1%; P=.006); and increased quality-adjusted life years (15.814 vs. 16.317).
Montserrat Garcýìa-Retortillo, MD, PhD, of the Parc de Salut MAR in Barcelona, Spain, and colleagues evaluated a multidisciplinary support program that included standard patient education, open and flexible visits scheduling, continued psychiatric evaluation and active medication provided by hepatologists, nurses, pharmacists, psychologists and health care assistants in comparison with a conventional program.
The cohort included 278 patients with HCV who were treated with pegylated interferon plus ribavirin. Of these patients, 131 were assigned to the multidisciplinary support program; 147 patients were assigned to the conventional approach group. Treatment adherence, sustained virological response, the use of health resources and cost-effectiveness of the program were assessed.
Overall costs were approximately $18,000 for the multidisciplinary program compared with approximately $22,000 for controls.
"Multidisciplinary support programs in HCV help to improve adherence and, as a result, we can reach excellent rates of sustained virological response, especially in the most difficult to treat patients as genotype 1 HCV-infected patients," Garcìa-Retortillo told Infectious Disease News. "We have demonstrated that HCV-infected patients treated with a multidisciplinary support program can achieve very high rates of sustained virological response. Moreover, a multidisciplinary support program is a cost-effective strategy since it is more effective and cheaper that the conventional strategy."
For more information:
- Garcia-Retortillo M. #938. Presented at: 2011 AASLD Annual Meeting; Nov. 3-8; San Francisco.
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