TO ASSESS THE INCIDENCE AND SEVERITY OF COVID 19 INFECTION IN PATIENTS ALREADY ON HEPATITIS C TREATMENT

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a significant impact worldwide, affecting almost every continent and every nation and causing economic challenges. Even patients who were undergoing antiviral therapy for chronic hepatitis were not spared from the deadly virus. The objective of this observational cross-sectional study was to evaluate the incidence of COVID-19 in patients already undergoing HCV treatment and to assess the severity and recovery of the disease in these patients. The study was conducted in the Department of Medicine and Gastroenterology at Fatima Memorial Hospital in Lahore and was approved by the ethical committee. The study lasted six months, and the sampling technique used was continuous non-probability sampling. The sample size was 100. The results showed that Sofosbuvir and Velpatasvir were prescribed to 91.4% of subjects, while 8.6% were taking triple therapy, including Ribavirin, Sofosbuvir, and Velpatasvir. The antiviral therapy (AVT) course lasted for three months for 95% of participants, while 5% took AVT for six months. Only 7.4% of the participants underwent COVID-19 testing; of those, 3.7% had positive results. 14.8% of participants had received the COVID-19 vaccine, and 4.9% had been in contact with someone who had tested positive for COVID-19. During the AVT period, 11.1% of participants had a history of fever, 80% had symptoms lasting for less than one week, and 20% had symptoms. These findings suggest that antiviral treatment may have a protective and preventive role in COVID-19 infection. However, further studies with a larger population will be required to strengthen these observations.