Patients with HCV may deliberately skip early treatment doses when feeling well

Patients with HCV may deliberately skip early treatment doses when feeling well

• March 25, 2013

Medication nonadherence during the first 24 weeks of treatment for chronic hepatitis C was often deliberate and attributed to feeling well, as opposed to forgetfulness or other factors, in a recent study.

Researchers evaluated adherence to treatment in a cohort of 401 patients with chronic HCV genotype 1. All participants had been enrolled in the Virahep-C study and received therapy with pegylated interferon (PEG) and ribavirin (RBV) for 24 weeks, with responders receiving an additional 24 weeks (n=242). Adherence was measured using the Medication Event Monitoring System, which recorded when the medication container was opened via a computer chip in the cap.

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