The primary objective of this study is to evaluate the impact of chronic hepatitis C (CHC), and the treatment thereof with peginterferon alpha-2b (PEG) and ribavirin (RBV) according to standard clinical practice, on the health-related quality of life (HRQL) of a cohort of participants throughout 72 weeks of follow-up. HRQL was assessed using the 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36) and the Chronic Liver Disease Questionnaire-Hepatitis C Virus (CLDQ-HCV).
As widely shown in previous reports Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) patients commonly experience fatigue, anxiety, and depression. These symptoms negatively affect patients' functional health, ability to work, self-perceived health, HRQL and well-being. Psychosocial issues and reduced HRQL are frequently experienced by HCV patients. HCV patients have more HRQL impairment than the general population. There is some evidence that HCV patients who experience greater fatigue, greater psychiatric symptoms, and poorer HRQL are more likely to discontinue treatment prematurely, with a negative impact on virological response. In addition to well-known side effects of interferon, one important determinant of HRQL during anti-viral therapy for HCV is development of RBV-induced anemia. Treatment of anemia improves HRQL, potentially impacting adherence to antiviral regimen and improving virologic response. These issues emphasize the importance of investigating the physical and psychosocial experiences and HRQL of HCV patients. The sample size of the study must allow evaluating HRQL of HCV patients based on the SF-36 before PEG treatment and at each of the following study visits. To be able to detect differences of or over 4.2 points in the vitality dimension between the basal visit and following visits, estimating a standard deviation of 22 points, a statistical power of 80%, and a level of significance of 0.05, 216 patients will be needed. Considering a loss of follow up of 15%, a total of 238 patients are planned for this study.
Study Type
OBSERVATIONAL
Enrollment
133
Pegylated interferon alfa-2b was administered in accordance with the dosage and pattern prescribed by each participant's physician (standard clinical practice).
Ribavirin was administered in accordance with the dosage and pattern prescribed by each participant's physician (standard clinical practice).
Change From Baseline (BL) to Week 72 (WK72) in 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36) Scores
SF-36 is a generic 36-item questionnaire measuring health-related quality of life (HRQL) covering 2 summary measures: physical component summary (PCS) and mental component summary (MCS). The SF-36 consists of 8 subscales. The PCS is represented by 4 subscales: physical function, role limitations due to physical problems, pain, and general health perception. The MCS is represented by 4 subscales: vitality, social function, role limitations due to emotional problems, and mental health. Participants self-report on items in a subscale that have between 2-6 choices per item using Likert-type responses (e.g. none of the time, some of the time, etc.). Summations of item scores of the same subscale give the subscale scores, which are transformed into a range from 0 to 100; zero= worst HRQL, 100=best HRQL. PCS and MCS scores are constructed as a T-score with a mean of 50 and standard deviation of 10 and no minimum or maximum score; higher scores indicate better health status.
Time frame: Baseline, Week 72
Change From Baseline (BL) to Week 72 (WK72) in Chronic Liver Disease Questionnaire-Hepatitis C Virus (CLDQ-HCV)
The CLDQ-HCV is a disease-specific questionnaire measuring HRQL that contains 29 items divided into 4 domains: emotional function (9 items), worry (6 items), systemic symptoms (8 items) and activity/energy (6 items). All items refer to the previous 2 weeks and are rated on a 7 point Likert scale, with 1 corresponding to the maximum frequency ("all of the time") and 7 to the minimum ("none of the time"). Domain scores are the means of the items contained. A summary score is calculated by the mean of all domain scores (CLDQ-HCV Global). Higher scores indicate better health-related quality of life.
Time frame: Baseline, Week 72
Change From Baseline to Week 72 (WK72) in SF-36 Scores Among Participants Who Completed Treatment and Participants Who Had Early End of Treatment (Subset Analysis)
SF-36 is a generic 36-item questionnaire measuring health-related quality of life (HRQL) covering 2 summary measures: physical component summary (PCS) and mental component summary (MCS). The SF-36 consists of 8 subscales. The PCS is represented by 4 subscales: physical function, role limitations due to physical problems, pain, and general health perception. The MCS is represented by 4 subscales: vitality, social function, role limitations due to emotional problems, and mental health. Participants self-report on items in a subscale that have between 2-6 choices per item using Likert-type responses (e.g. none of the time, some of the time, etc.). Summations of item scores of the same subscale give the subscale scores, which are transformed into a range from 0 to 100; zero= worst HRQL, 100=best HRQL. PCS and MCS scores are constructed as a T-score with a mean of 50 and standard deviation of 10 and no minimum or maximum score; higher scores indicate better health status.
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Time frame: Baseline, Week 72
Change From Baseline to Week 72 (WK72) in CLDQ-HCV Scores Among Participants Who Completed Treatment and Participants Who Had Early End of Treatment (Subset Analysis)
The CLDQ-HCV is a disease-specific questionnaire measuring quality of life that contains 29 items divided into 4 domains: emotional function (9 items), worry (6 items), systemic symptoms (8 items) and activity/energy (6 items). All items refer to the previous 2 weeks and are rated on a 7 point Likert scale, with 1 corresponding to the maximum frequency ("all of the time") and 7 to the minimum ("none of the time"). Domain scores are the means of the items contained. A summary score is calculated by the mean of all domain scores (CLDQ-HCV Global). Higher scores indicate better health-related quality of life.
Time frame: Baseline, Week 72
Minimal Clinically Important Difference (MCID) in SF-36 Scores
SF-36 is a 36-item questionnaire measuring HRQL covering 2 summary measures, PCS and MCS. The SF-36 consists of 8 subscales. PCS is represented by physical function, role limitations-physical, pain, and general health perception. MCS is represented by vitality, social function, role limitations-emotional, and mental health. Subscale items are summed and scaled from 0-100 to give subscale scores; 0= worst HRQL, 100=best HRQL. PCS and MCS summary scores are constructed as T-scores (mean =50, standard deviation=10) with no minimum or maximum score; higher scores indicate better health status. MCID was defined as the difference in questionnaire scores between baseline and final visits for those participants who had stated that their health status had changed at the end of the study (improved in one category of health status as perceived by themselves). The MCID was calculated for each subscale of the SF-36 and for PCS and MCS.
Time frame: From Baseline Visit to Final Visit (up to 72 weeks)
MCID in CLDQ-HCV Scores
The CLDQ-HCV is a disease-specific questionnaire measuring HRQL that contains 29 items divided into 4 domains: emotional function (9 items), worry (6 items), systemic symptoms (8 items) and activity/energy (6 items). All items refer to the previous 2 weeks and are rated on a 7 point Likert scale, with 1 corresponding to the maximum frequency ("all of the time") and 7 to the minimum ("none of the time"). Domain scores are the means of the items contained. A summary score is calculated by the mean of all domain scores (CLDQ-HCV Global). Higher scores indicate better health-related quality of life. MCID was defined as the difference in questionnaire scores between baseline and final visits for those participants who had stated that their health status had changed at the end of the study (improved in one category of health status perceived by themselves). The MCID was calculated for each domain of the CLDQ-HCV and for the CLDQ-HCV summary score.
Time frame: From Baseline Visit to Final Visit (up to 72 weeks)
Percentage of Participants Who Were Compliant With Treatment According To Medication Count (Subset Analysis)
Compliance was calculated as the amount of dispensed medication minus the amount of medication returned by participants divided by amount of dispensed medication.
Time frame: From Baseline Visit to Final Visit (up to 72 weeks)