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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Public Health
Sec. Children and Health
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1504678

Attitudes and perspectives of healthcare workers on treating chronic hepatitis C infection in children and adolescents

Provisionally accepted
Farihah Malik Farihah Malik 1*Philippa Easterbrook Philippa Easterbrook 2,3Giuseppe Indolfi Giuseppe Indolfi 4Claire Thorne Claire Thorne 1*
  • 1 University College London, London, United Kingdom
  • 2 Imperial College London, London, England, United Kingdom
  • 3 World Health Organization (Switzerland), Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
  • 4 Department of Pediatrics, Meyer Children's University Hospital, Florence, Tuscany, Italy

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    There are gaps in knowledge about the values and preferences of healthcare workers (HCW) with respect to treatment of children and adolescents living with chronic hepatitis C (HCV) infection. This study was carried out to identify these values and preferences as part of the evidence required to update World Health Organization (WHO) hepatitis C guidelines.An online survey was designed and conducted during August/September 2021. Survey questions were developed to address two key questions about treatment of children and adolescents: who to treat, and which direct acting antiviral (DAA) regimens to use. The survey was circulated by the WHO to nine networks providing care to children and adolescents living with HCV infection, with respondents requested to cascade further within their networks.A total of 137 individuals from 38 countries responded to the survey. There was a trend towards higher preference for treating children of older age groups; 60% of respondents reported a strong preference for treating (i.e., stating they were very likely or likely to treat) children aged 3 to <6 years, 81% and 95% indicated strong preferences for treating those aged 6 to <12 years and 12 to <18 years respectively. The most preferred DAA regimens for treatment across all age groups were: sofosbuvir/velpatasvir (SOF/VEL), sofosbuvir/ledipasvir (SOF/LDV), and glecaprevir/pibrentasvir (GLE/PIB). These were also reported to be the most commonly available drug regimens at respondents' facilities.This survey provides insights from a heterogenous sample of HCWs from across the world with respect to their expressed priorities and preferences for the treatment of children and adolescents with chronic HCV.

    Keywords: Hepatitis C, Child, Adolescent, Healthcare worker, Values, Preferences, Treatment, DaaS

    Received: 01 Oct 2024; Accepted: 31 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Malik, Easterbrook, Indolfi and Thorne. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Farihah Malik, University College London, London, United Kingdom
    Claire Thorne, University College London, London, United Kingdom

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.