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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Journal of Gastrointestinal Infections 2023; 13(01): 030-033
DOI: 10.1055/s-0042-1760422
Original Article

Sociodemographic Profile, Genotype, and Response to Therapy in Hepatitis C Virus Infection: A Brief Report from Himachal Pradesh

Brij Sharma
1   Department of Gastroenterology, Indira Gandhi Medical College & Hospital, Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, India
,
Vineeta Sharma
2   Microbiology, Indira Gandhi Medical College & Hospital, Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, India
,
Rajesh Kumar
1   Department of Gastroenterology, Indira Gandhi Medical College & Hospital, Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, India
,
Rajesh Sharma
1   Department of Gastroenterology, Indira Gandhi Medical College & Hospital, Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, India
,
Vishal Bodh
1   Department of Gastroenterology, Indira Gandhi Medical College & Hospital, Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, India
,
Ashish Chauhan 
1   Department of Gastroenterology, Indira Gandhi Medical College & Hospital, Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, India
,
Amit Sachdeva
3   Community Medicine, Indira Gandhi Medical College & Hospital, Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, India
,
Tahir Majeed
1   Department of Gastroenterology, Indira Gandhi Medical College & Hospital, Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, India
,
Mir Bilal
1   Department of Gastroenterology, Indira Gandhi Medical College & Hospital, Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, India
,
Dikshant Sharma
4   PJLN-Govt. Medical College, Chamba, Himachal Pradesh, India
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Abstract

Introduction Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a major cause of liver disease worldwide. There is no data on sociodemographic profile, risk factors, genotype, and response to therapy of HCV infection from Himachal Pradesh.

Methods In this single-center study, we retrospectively analyzed data from HCV-infected patients treated with new oral direct-acting antiviral drugs from September 2019 to March 2022. Data on the sociodemographic profile of HCV-infected patients, along with risk factors for its transmission, HCV genotype, and response to therapy, was analyzed.

Results A total of 189 patients were included, with a mean age of 30.9 ± 13.8 years. Most were males and were students. Predominant risk factor for HCV transmission was intravenous drug use (61.4%), tattooing (11.7%), and hemodialysis (11.1%). A majority of the patients were students (72%). The predominant genotype was GT 3. Most (95.2%) patients were without cirrhosis, so sofosbuvir plus daclatasvir for 12 weeks was the most common regimen used. Sustained virological response was achieved in 94.7% of patients.

Conclusion This study, alarmingly, shows that intravenous drug users and tattooing are important risk factors for HCV infection in Himachal Pradesh. Further, students were the most frequently infected group.

Keywords

hepatitis C virus - direct acting antiviral - hepatitis C virus genotype - National Viral Hepatitis Control Program

Ethical Approvals and Consent

Since our study retrospectively analyzed the data maintained in our gastroenterology department so ethical approval and consent were not sought.




Publication History

Received: 06 October 2022

Accepted: 01 November 2022

Article published online:
22 September 2023

© 2023. Gastroinstestinal Infection Society of India. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

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