Treatment Effectiveness of Patients with Hepatitis C in the Prisons of Southern Taiwan: A Real-life Retrospective Analysis

Objective Hepatitis C is an important risk factor for cirrhosis and liver cancer in the Taiwanese population. Domestic prisons reported a higher rate of hepatitis C infection than the national average. Efficient and effective treatment of patients with hepatitis C in prisons is required to decrease the number of infections. This study analyzed the effectiveness of hepatitis C treatment in prison patients. Design This retrospective analysis included adult patients with hepatitis C who received direct-acting antiviral agents between 2018 and 2021. Setting The special hepatitis C clinics in the two prisons were run by a medium-sized hepatitis C treatment hospital in Southern Taiwan. Three direct-acting antiviral agents, sofosbuvir/ledipasvir for 12 weeks, glecaprevir/pibrentasvir for 8 or 12 weeks, and sofosbuvir/velpatasvir for 12 weeks, were adopted based on patient characteristics. Participants 470 patients were included. Outcome measure The sustained virological response at 12 weeks after the end of treatment was compared between the different groups. Results Most of the patients were men (70.0%) with a median age of 44 years. The most prevalent hepatitis C virus genotype was genotype 1 (44.26%). A total of 240 patients (51.06%) had a history of injectable drug use; 44 (9.36%) and 71 (15.11%) patients were co-infected with hepatitis B virus and human immunodeficiency virus, respectively. Only 51 patients (10.85%) had liver cirrhosis. Most patients (98.30%) had normal renal function or no history of kidney disease. The patients had a sustained virological response achievement rate of 99.2%. Conclusion Direct-acting antiviral agents are effective for treating hepatitis C in Taiwanese prisoners.