Background Good adherence to hepatitis C treatment seems necessary to obtain a successful treatment, increasing sustained virological response (SVR) rates.

Purpose To assess the adherence to chronic hepatitis C treatment.

Materials and Methods The study was descriptive, retrospective and observational. Patients with chronic hepatitis C, who were being treated with peginterferon and ribavirin or monotherapy with peginterferon in 2011, were selected. Data collected were: age, drug dispensed, duration of treatment, pretreatment, co-infected status (HIV, HBV), haemophilia status, genotype and viral load at the beginning and the end of treatment. Adherence was calculated taking into account the number of medicines dispensed and the dates.

Results Of the 113 patients included (102 adults, 11 children) 110 patients were treated with ribavirin and peginterferon. The other three patients were treated with only peginterferon. There were 32 patients with HIV co-infection and three haemophiliacs. The average adherence of 112 of patients was 103%; one patient had less than 85% adherence. The genotype 1 patients (n = 54) had a mean duration treatment time of 35.5 weeks and a mean adherence of 103%. The genotype non-1 patients (n = 59) had a mean duration of treatment of 28.3 weeks and 104% adherence. The SVR of patients with genotype 1 and non-1 were 50% and 60% respectively.

Conclusions There was a high rate of adherence to treatment because it has a definite time course. Adherence was greater than 100% owing to some patients coming to pick up the medicines before the set date. The method used in this study could be improved with validated adherence questionnaires. Good adherence is necessary to achieve SVR and it is especially important with the new protease inhibitors drugs (boceprevir and telaprevir), due to the complexity of triple therapy, adverse reactions and the high cost. Therefore, hospital pharmacists should collaborate on it with pharmaceutical care clinics specialising in hepatitis C.

No conflict of interest.