Abstract

Introduction:  Costa Rica has a public healthcare system that made possible the detection of hepatitis C (HCV) infected patients and offer them treatment with last-generation direct-acting antivirals (DAA). Nonetheless, there has not been any published studies that evaluate the response of the Costa Rican population to these drugs.

Aim:  To describe the clinical effectiveness of direct acting antiviral treatment in a cohort treated in the Social Security Care from Costa Rica (CCSS).

Materials and Methods:  Retrospective review of clinical records of all patients who were treated with: sofosbuvir/ledipasvir, sofosbuvir/velpatasvir and ombitasvir/paritaprevir/ritonavir/dasabuvir in three national adult hospitals from between 2017-2018. Epidemiological, clinical and laboratory data were collected, and pre- and post- treatment results were compared.

Results:  139 patients were recruited, 22 were excluded because they did not fulfill the inclusión criteria. The analysis was made with 117 patients; from which 101 had their viremia documented in their records for the determination of sustained virological response (SVR). The majority of patients were Costa Ricans born between 1945-1965, whose risk factors for hepatitis C were not documented, with a non-cirrhotic, genotype 1b infection. Overall SVR was 98%. There was not a significant difference of response between cirrhotic (94%) and non-cirrhotic population (100%).

There was a significant reduction (p< 0,01) in:  Aspartate Aminotranferase to Platelet Ratio Index (APRI), the score of the Model for End-Stage Liver Disease (MELD), Alanine Aminotransferase (ALT) and total bilirubin in patients treated with DAA.

Conclusion:  The direct acting antivirals were effective in population treated in our country, with SVR similar to those reported in real life studies from other regions of the world.

Keywords: hepatitis C; antivirales; Costa Rica; sustained viral virologic response