Survival of hepatitis C-infected haemophilia patients is predicted by presence of cirrhosis but not by anti-viral treatment

Background/Purpose. Hepatitis C (HCV) is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in haemophilia patients who received clotting factor concentrates before the availability of virus-inactivated factors in the mid-1980s. Recently, it has been suggested that anti-HCV treated patients, particularly those achieving a sus-tained virological response (SVR) have an improved outcome. We sought to examine the survival of treated and untreated HCV-infected haemophilia patients. Material and methods. We studied overall and liver-rela-ted survival of patients with haemophilia and other congenital bleeding disorders between 2000 and 2010. The outcome was compared in 3 sub-groups: HCV mono-infected (N = 127), HCV/HIV co-infected (N = 28), and patients with either HCV-antibodies negative or persistent HCV RNA-negative (referred to as non-in-fected) (N = 45). Sixty-two (40%) (HCV and HCV/HIV) patients underwent anti-HCV treatment with an SVR rate of 40.3%. Results. Overall and liver-related 10-year survival were: 82.1 and 89.3%, 95.3 and 99.2 and 100 % for HCV/HIV co-infected, HCV mono-infected and non-infected haemophilia patients, respectively (p = 0.015 and 0.023 for comparisons of HCV/HIV vs. HCV; p = 0.003 for comparison of HCV/HIV and non-infec-ted). One HCV mono-infected and 3 co-infected patients died of end-stage liver disease (2 underwent liver transplantation). There was no survival benefit from anti-HCV treatment or from attaining of an SVR. Onl