TUESDAY, Nov. 11, 2014 (HealthDay News) -- For patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) and bridging fibrosis or cirrhosis, attaining sustained virological response (SVR) is associated with life expectancy comparable to the general population, according to a study published in the Nov. 12 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Adriaan J. van der Meer, M.D., Ph.D., from the Erasmus MC University Medical Center Rotterdam in the Netherlands, and colleagues examined overall survival in patients with chronic HCV infection and bridging fibrosis or cirrhosis. Data were collected for 454 patients who were followed for a median of 8.4 years.
Of the participants, 36 percent attained SVR. The researchers found that 13 patients with SVR died, resulting in a cumulative 10-year overall survival rate of 91.1 percent, which was comparable to that of the age- and sex-matched general population (P = 0.57). One hundred patients without SVR died, resulting in a cumulative 10-year overall survival rate of 74.0 percent, which was significantly lower than the matched general population (P < 0.001).
"Among patients with chronic HCV infection and bridging fibrosis or cirrhosis, attaining SVR was associated with survival comparable with that of the general population, whereas not attaining SVR was associated with reduced survival," the authors write.
Several authors disclosed financial ties to the pharmaceutical and medical device industries.
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