Assessment of motivating factors associated with the initiation and completion of treatment for chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection

BMC Infectious Diseases

Thomas F Goss¹  Mrudula Donepudi²  Stephen Bubb²  Montserrat Vera-Llonch²  Carly Dougher¹  Jyoti Aggarwal¹  Lauren Fusfeld¹ 

[1] Boston Healthcare Associates, Inc., Boston, MA, USA;Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated, Cambridge, MA, USA

关键词: Drug therapy;    Treatment initiation;    Motivation;    Compliance;    Adherence;    Decision-making;    Hepatitis C;   

Others  :  1148295
DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2334-13-234

 received in 2012-11-06, accepted in 2013-05-20,  发布年份 2013

【 摘 要 】

Background

Infection with hepatitis C virus (HCV) is associated with high morbidity and increased mortality but many patients avoid initiation of treatment or report challenges with treatment completion. The study objective was to identify motivators and barriers for treatment initiation and completion in a community sample of HCV-infected patients in the United States.

Methods

Survey methods were employed to identify factors reported by patients as important in their decision to start or complete HCV treatment. Study participants included 120 HCV-infected individuals: 30 had previously completed treatment with pegylated interferon/ribavirin (PR), 30 had discontinued PR, 30 were treated with PR at the time of the survey, and 30 were treatment‒naïve. Telephone interviews occurred between May and August of 2011 and employed a standardized guide. Participants assigned factors a rating from 1 (not at all important) to 5 (extremely important). Trained researchers coded and analyzed interview transcripts.

Results

Of 33 factors, expected health problems from not treating HCV infection was reported as most encouraging for treatment initiation and completion, while treatment side effects was most discouraging. Sixty-nine percent of participants reported that the ability to obtain information during treatment on the likelihood of treatment success (i.e., results of viral load testing) would motivate them to initiate therapy. Median preferred timing for learning about test results was 5 weeks (range: 1–23 weeks).

Conclusion

Understanding challenges and expectations from patients is important in identifying opportunities for education to optimize patient adherence to their HCV treatment regimen.

【 授权许可】

   
2013 Fusfeld et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

【 图 表 】

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