Survey finds hepatitis C patients adversely affected by medications

NEW YORK Hepatitis C and the medications used to treat it have a number of adverse affects on the quality of life of patients, according to a recent survey.

According to “The Hepatitis C Survey: Bridging the Caps in HCV Understanding and Treatment” — conducted by TNS and Synovate and sponsored by Novartis and Human Genome Sciences — one area in which the disease exerts a toll on patients is in employment.

Patients in the survey described missing days at work, decrease in productivity and lost income, with 44% of patients taking time off from work and 36% experiencing reduced productivity. Nearly three-quarters of respondents said there was a social stigma associated with the disease, and 31% said they could openly discuss living with the disease with colleagues.

Meanwhile, 52% of patients treated said they were satisfied with their therapy, and 92% of physicians said certain side effects of hepatitis C therapies worsened around the time of injection.