Treatment Outcomes of Hepatitis C-Infected Patients in Specialty Clinic vs. Primary Care Physician Clinic: A Comparative Analysis

Taseen Ahmed Syed; Muhammad Hassaan Bashir; Samid Muhammad Farooqui; Allshine Chen; Sixia Chen; Salman Nusrat; Javid Fazili

doi:10.1155/2019/8434602

Treatment Outcomes of Hepatitis C-Infected Patients in Specialty Clinic vs. Primary Care Physician Clinic: A Comparative Analysis

Gastroenterol Res Pract. 2019 Jun 4:2019:8434602. doi: 10.1155/2019/8434602. eCollection 2019.

Authors

Taseen Ahmed Syed^{1

2}, Muhammad Hassaan Bashir³, Samid Muhammad Farooqui¹, Allshine Chen⁴, Sixia Chen⁴, Salman Nusrat^{5

6

7}, Javid Fazili^{6

7}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Internal Medicine, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, 1100 N Lindsay Ave, Oklahoma City, OK 73104, USA.
² Department of Gastroenterology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA.
³ Department of Gastroenterology, SUNY Health Science Center, Brooklyn, New York, USA.
⁴ Department of Biostatistics & Epidemiology, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, 801 NE 13th St., Oklahoma City, OK, USA.
⁵ Department of Medicine, Neurogastroenterology and Motility Program, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, OK, USA.
⁶ Department of Medicine, Section of Digestive Diseases and Nutrition, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, OK, USA.
⁷ Department of Medicine, Section of Digestive Diseases and Nutrition, Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Oklahoma City, OK, USA.

Abstract

Background: Oral direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) provide an exceptional opportunity to treat hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection.

Goals: We compared the treatment outcomes between specialty and primary care physician (PCP) clinics for patients treated with DAAs.

Methods: We performed a retrospective analysis of patients treated for HCV in our PCP clinics and specialty; liver and gastroenterology clinics and gastroenterology clinics. We used the two-sided t-test and the chi-square test to compare the means of continuous and categorical variables, respectively.

Results: Data from a total of 377 patients was analyzed (PCP clinic: n = 185 and specialty clinic: n = 192). There was no significant difference between age, race, and gender. Model for End-Stage Liver Disease (MELD) and Child-Turcotte-Pugh (CTP) scores were comparable at baseline. Greater than 90% of the patients achieved sustained virological response (SVR) with no difference between the groups.

Conclusions: Uncomplicated patients can be treated for hepatitis C by their PCPs with DAAs with similar treatment outcomes to specialty clinics. There should be explicit guidelines on patient eligibility for treatment by PCPs vs. specialists.

Grants and funding

U54 GM104938/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/United States