Access to Peginterferon plus Ribavirin Therapy for Hepatitis C in Romania between 2002-2009

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Liana Gheorghe¹, Oliviu Pascu², Emanoil Ceausu³, Irma Eva Csiki⁴, Speranta Iacob¹, Florin Caruntu⁵, Iulia Simionov¹, Roxana Vadan¹

1) Center of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Fundeni Clinical Institute of Digestive Diseases and Liver Transplantation, Bucharest;
2) 3rd Medical Clinic, Cluj-Napoca,
3) "Victor Babes" Hospital for Infectious Diseases;
4) Institute of Public Health;
5) National Institute for Infectious Diseases "Prof. Dr. Matei Balş", Bucharest, Romania

Abstract

Background: An overall prevalence rate of HCV infection in Romanian adult population was recently estimated to be 3.23%. The proportion of treated patients with chronic hepatitis C in our country has never been assessed.

Aims: 1) to analyze the quality and quantity of antiviral therapy delivery; 2) to determine the proportion of patients being annually and ever treated with antiviral therapy in Romania and 3) to identify barriers against treatment of HCV infected-population in Romania.

Results: The number of annually treated patients remained relatively stable between 2002 and 2007 (1,813 patients treated with pegylated interferon and ribavirin in 2002 and 2,446 in 2007). There was a doubled increase in reimbursed treatment in 2008 and 2009 (4,503 and respectively 4,701 treated patients) due to a special campaign organized to increase awareness and prevention of HCV transmission. The median time to therapy approval varies from county to county; overall it is 10.23 months. A total number of 25,318 patients with chronic C hepatitis were treated between 2002-2009, corresponding to a cumulative proportion of 4.1% of the prevalent cases of HCV infection treated in Romania until 1st January 2010. The main limiting factor of access to antiviral therapy for hepatitis C in Romania remains the lack of funds.

Conclusions: This is the first analysis of the nationwide practice for treatment of hepatitis C in Romania. Increased public health efforts are required to improve access to antiviral therapy for hepatitis C in Romania.

Key words

Hepatitis C - peginterferon - ribavirin - therapy.