Use of healthcare resources and drug expenditure before and after treatment of chronic hepatitis C with direct antiviral agents

Abstract

The current prevalence of hepatitis C infection is an estimated 71 million infected people worldwide. The incidence of new cases in 2015 was estimated to be 1.75 million per year. 1 Progression to cirrhosis is variable and depends on the severity of liver damage at the time of diagnosis, 2 and other cofactors including alcohol intake, 3 iron overload, 4 steatosis 5 or co-infection such as hepatitis B or human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). [6][7][8] Approximately 20% of untreated chronic hepatitis C (CHC) patients progress to liver cirrhosis and its associated complications such as portal hypertension,