الفهرس 
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Abstract
Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a worldwide public health problem, affecting about 3% of the world’s population. Nearly three quarters of infected individuals are living in middle income countries. China, Pakistan, Nigeria, Egypt, India, and Russia together accounted for more than half of total infections.
In response to the major problem of HCV in Egypt, the Egyptian Ministry of Health and Population (MOHP) launched the National Committee for Control of Viral Hepatitis. The introduction of sofosbuvir (Sovaldi) markedly changed therapeutic outcomes.
Assessment of Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) has become a frequent and valuable outcome measure in clinical research with patients facing chronic diseases, including chronic liver diseases. The assessment of HRQoL in HCV patients under treatment might help to better understand the effect of treatment on the patient’s quality of life. It can influence the decision -making process during therapeutic management of the patients.
The study was conducted to assess quality of life of chronic hepatitis C patients receiving Sovaldi containing regimen at outpatient hepatology clinic in Sharq Almadina hospital and identify factors associated with it.
A cross sectional survey was conducted in order to achieve the study objectives.
The target population was chronic hepatitis C patients above 18 years of age of both sexes receiving Sovaldi treatment regimen for at least 3 months with no hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection, liver cirrhosis or hepatocellular carcinoma. The total number of studied patients was 165.
Data was collected from the studied CHCV patients using face to face interview format which includes the following parts:
- Part I: Personal and socio-demographic characteristics, History of associated co-morbid conditions, Family history of hepatitis C affection, History of hepatitis C and detailed treatment history
- Part II: The chronic liver disease questionnaire (CLDQ) to assess health related quality of life.
- Part III: The translated Arabic version of short form (SF 36) generic quality of life questionnaire.
Reviewing the medical records of studied CHCV patients to collect data about their laboratory findings was done.
The followings are summarization of the main findings:
a. Description of studied HCV patients:
- More than half of studied CHCV patients (58.8%) were females. Their age ranged from 23.0 to 70.0 years, with a mean age of 49.29 ± 14.12 years. Mean age of female patients was lower than that of male patients (47.26 +13.89 years and 52.19+14.02 years respectively) with statistically significant difference. P = 0.010
- Majority of studied CHCV patients, (81.2%) lived in urban areas. Minority of the patients (12.7%) were living alone. Significantly, female patients who were living alone showed slightly higher proportion than males (18.6 % and 4.4% respectively), (P=0.007).
- Around half of patients (50.9%) were illiterate/ read and write,22.4% had secondary education, (17.0%) had basic education. Significantly higher proportion of females (59.8%) was illiterate/ read and write than males (38.2%), P=0.047.
- Three fourths of the patients (74.5%) were married. All of the divorced/ widow patients (13.3%) were females. Single male patients showed significantly higher proportion than single female patients (20.6% and 6.2% respectively), P<0.001.
- About half of the patients (50.9%) were housewives, one third were currently working (32.7%). Significantly the majority of male patients (69.1%) were currently working compared to (7.2%) of currently working females. (P=<0.001).
- Around a quarter of patients (24.8%) were currently smokers. Significantly higher proportion of male patients were currently smoking than female patients (54.4% and 4.1% respectively), (P <0.001). Minority of CHCV patients (14.7%) were ex- intravenous drug addicts. All of them were male patients
b. Past medical history and CHCV disease characteristics.
- Around one fifth of patients (18.8%) had positive family history of CHCV. More than half of studied patients with positive family history their parents were affected (51.6%) followed by their siblings (32.3%).
- The most commonly mentioned associated chronic disease by the studied patients were hypertension and diabetes mellitus (13.9% and 12.1% respectively). A minority of studied patients (15.8 %) had history of hospitalization during the past 12 months mostly due to having operation (61.5%).
- The majority of studied CHCV patients (86.7%) did not know their age at the disease onset. The Mean age at disease onset for patients was 33.7±13.13 years. The mean age at disease onset was significantly higher for female patients than male patients P < 0.001
- Mean duration of the disease since diagnosis was 2.65 ± 4.43 years for all patients. Male patients had significantly higher mean duration of the disease than female patients (3.81 ± 4.93 and 1.84 ± 3.87 respectively). (P<0.001).
- More than two thirds of studied patients (69.1%) discovered the disease during the National Egyptian Campaign, while others discovered the disease either accidentally or by appearance of symptoms (24.2% and 6.7% respectively). Significantly higher proportion of female patients (75.3%) discovered the disease during the National Egyptian Campaign than male patients (60.3%). (P=0.002).
- The most commonly mentioned known modes of catching infection were through blood transfusion and drug addiction (34.3% and 28.6% respectively).
c. History of oral SOVALDI including regimen
- Majority of patients (95.8%) did not receive Sovaldi injection before starting oral Sovaldi including regimen.
- Around one fifth of patients (18.8%) showed poor adherence to treatment, mostly due to having many medications to take followed by thinking that the treatment is not useful, then being afraid from side effect (58.1%,41.9% and 22.6% respectively).
- Around two fifths of studied patients (41.8%) had side effect of oral sovaldi treatment. The most commonly mentioned side effects were headache, drowsiness/dizziness, GIT manifestations and fatigue (42.0%, 34.8%, 26.1% and (23.2% respectively).