Predictors of treatment in patients with chronic hepatitis C infection - role of patient versus nonpatient factors.
Treatment with interferon and ribavirin is effective in patients with chronic infection with hepatitis C virus (HCV). Previous data indicate that treatment rates are suboptimal. We sought to identify patient and provider-level predictors of treatment receipt in HCV by conducting a retrospective cohort study of 5701 HCV patients in a large regional Veteran's Administration (VA) healthcare network. We also determined the degree of variation in treatment rates attributable to patient, provider, and facility factors. Three thousand seven hundred forty-three patients (65%) were seen by a specialist and 894 (15.7%) received treatment. Treatment rates varied from 6% to 29% across the 5 facilities included in the analysis. Patients were less likely to receive treatment if they were older [RR, 0.55; 95% CI, 0.45, 0.67), single (RR, 0.77; 95%CI, 0.67, 0.88), had hepatic dysfunction (RR, 0.73; 95%CI, 0.66, 0.89), had normal alanine aminotransferase (ALT) (RR, 0.73; 95%CI, 0.59, 0.89), had HCV genotype 1 (RR, 0.78; 95%CI, 0.71, 0.86), were African American with genotype 1 (RR, 0.78; 95% CI, 0.71, 0.86), or were anemic (RR, 0.70; CI, 0.60, 0.89). In addition, patients evaluated by less experienced providers were 77% less likely to receive treatment than those evaluated by more experienced providers. The patient, provider, and facility factors explained 23%, 25%, and 7% of variation in treatment rates, respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
These data suggest that although patient characteristics are important predictors of treatment in HCV, a significant proportion of variation in treatment rates is explained by provider factors. These potentially modifiable provider-level factors may serve as high-yield targets for future quality improvement initiatives in HCV.
Kanwal
Fasiha
F
John Cochran VA Medical Center, St. Louis, MO, USA. fasiha.kanwal@va.gov
Hoang
Tuyen
T
Spiegel
Brennan M R
BM
Eisen
Seth
S
Dominitz
Jason A
JA
Gifford
Allen
A
Goetz
Mathew
M
Asch
Steven M
SM
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D019698:Hepatitis C, Chronic / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors