Hepatitis C Treatment Experiences and Decision Making Among Patients Living With HIV Infection

Hepatitis C infection is a major problem for approximately 250,000 HIV-infected persons in the United States. Although HIV infection is well-controlled in most of this population, they suffer liver-associated morbidity and mortality. Conversely, hepatitis C virus (HCV) treatment uptake remains quite low (15%-30%). Therefore, the purpose of this qualitative study was to explore HCV treatment experiences and decision making in adults with HIV infection. The study sample included 39 coinfected adults; 16 in the HCV-treated cohort (who were interviewed a maximum of 3 times) and 23 in the HCV-nontreatment cohort. Analysis of interviews identified 2 treatment barriers (fears and vicarious experiences) and 4 facilitating factors (experience with illness management, patient-provider relationships, gaining sober time, and facing treatment head-on). Analysis of these data also revealed a preliminary model to guide intervention development and theoretical perspectives. Ultimately, research is urgently needed to test interventions that improve HCV evaluation and treatment uptake among HIV-infected patients.

Key words: decision making, hepatitis C, HIV