Background The addition of NS3/4 protease inhibitors to the standard of care treatment (SoCT) for genotype 1 hepatitis C (pegylated interferon and ribavirin) has increased the treatment response rate as well as the frequency and severity of adverse events (AEs). These may reduce the effectiveness or even cause the discontinuation of treatment.

Purpose To evaluate adherence, tolerability and quality of life (QoL) in triple treatment patients (TT) (telaprevir + SoCT) in comparison with SoCT patients.

Materials and Methods Observational, prospective study performed in a 780-bed teaching hospital from February to September 2012. Prescription of TT was based on National Spanish Health System recommendations. A printed questionnaire was offered to patients (SoCT or TT) when they started on treatment and was given back three months later. The Questionnaire consisted of three parts: SMAQ (Simplified Medicines Adherence Questionnaire), Side Effects Profile Test (SEPT) (score from 1 to 5) and QoL Spanish version of the Chronic Liver Disease Questionnaire-Hepatitis C Virus (CLDQ-HCV) (score from 1 to 28). Statistical analyses were performed using SPSS 15.0 (non-parametric test).

Results A total of 53 hepatitis C patients started drug treatment during the study (26 TT vs. 27 SoCT). We obtained 12 questionnaires on TT (46.1% response rate, median age 52.4 years, 65.5% women) and 10 questionnaires of SoCT (37.0% response rate, median age 49.3 years, 58.1% women). Only 2 TT (16.6%) were non-adherent and 5 SoCT (50.0%) (p = 0.002). Data collected from SEPT showed a mean global score value of 2.2 in TT and 2.3 in SoCT (p = 0.356). The CLDQ-HCV mean global score was 15.9 in TT and 14.2 in SoCT (p = 0.128).

Conclusions Better adherence in TT is probably due to patient expectations and highest motivation for the new drug. Perhaps, this also affects to similar groups rates in SEPT and CLDQ-HCV.

No conflict of interest.