Önlen, Y.Bal, T.Çabalak, M.Çuvalcı Öztoprak, N.Sarı, N.D.Kurtaran, B.Tabak, F.Karaali, RıdvanGüner, Rahmet2023-04-202023-04-2020222148-5607https://doi.org/10.5152/tjg.2022.21271https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11776/11071BACKGROUND: The number and proportion of elderly patients living with chronic hepatitis C are expected to increase in the coming years. We aimed to compare the real-world efficacy and safety of direct-acting antiviral treatment in elderly and younger Turkish adults infected with chronic hepatitis C. METHODS: In this multicenter prospective study, 2629 eligible chronic hepatitis C patients treated with direct-acting antivirals between April 2017 and December 2019 from 37 Turkish referral centers were divided into 2 age groups: elderly (?65 years) and younger adults (<65 years) and their safety was compared between 2 groups in evaluable population. Then, by matching the 2 age groups for demographics and pretreatment risk factors for a non-sustained virological response, a total of 1516 patients (758 in each group) and 1244 patients (622 in each group) from the modified evaluable population and per-protocol population were included in the efficacy analysis and the efficacy was compared between age groups. RESULTS: The sustained virological response in the chronic hepatitis C patients was not affected by the age and the presence of cirrhosis both in the modified evaluable population and per-protocol population (P = .879, P = .508 for modified evaluable population and P = .058, P = .788 for per-protocol population, respectively). The results of the per-protocol analysis revealed that male gender, patients who had a prior history of hepatocellular carcinoma, patients infected with non-genotype 1 hepatitis C virus, and patients treated with sofosbuvir+ribavirin had a significantly lower sustained virological response 12 rates (P < .001, P = .047, P = .013, and P = .025, respectively). CONCLUSION: Direct-acting antivirals can be safely used to treat Turkish elderly chronic hepatitis C patients with similar favorable efficacy and safety as that in younger adults.en10.5152/tjg.2022.21271info:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccessantivirus agentribavirinsofosbuviradultagedchronic hepatitis Cclinical trialcombination drug therapygeneticsHepacivirushumanmalemulticenter studyprospective studysustained virologic responsetreatment outcometurkey (bird)AdultAgedAntiviral AgentsDrug Therapy, CombinationHepacivirusHepatitis C, ChronicHumansMaleProspective StudiesRibavirinSofosbuvirSustained Virologic ResponseTreatment OutcomeTurkeyArticle3310862873Q4WOS:0009555902000072-s2.0-85139571415113440235946896Q3